Fresh start to Bloggin

Ok. so this is my 3rd attempt in as many years to start bloggin. Why blog again? Why now? Well, close friends have been pestering me for quite some time that I should get started again with blogging. “K” has been among the most persistent in this regard. She compared my mind to a bedside coffee-maker: it’s always boiling with new ideas: so why not blog and put that out?

Last, but certainly not the least: the recent episode where some vertically and mentally challenged “keyboard-warriors” and wannabe bikers with a known history of trouble-mongering used an anonymous blog for vicious defamation of various people in the biking fraternity including yours truly. All this was done from behind the supposed cover of anonymity. How best to respond to this? Replying back on that anonymous blog would only compound the problem. Close friends advised that one way was to fight fire with fire: respond with a CREDIBLE blog that would present your point of view to those people that really mattered. The credibility of any blog is driven by its author. When the author(s) are anonymous, it betrays their lack of confidence in themselves and their own PoV and thus lacks credibility.
SoapBox? Whats that? A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from when speakers would stand on a wooden box meant for holding soap and make impassioned speeches presenting their Point of View.

I remember a time when we used to hang out at Suruchi or other coffee shops in town and vigorously debate on all that was happening around us: from Deepalis new squeeze to the state of forests in the konkan? A lot of what we think and do today is guided by those nicotine and caffeine fuelled discussions: our involvement in wildlife conservation for example. As we got busy with our professional lives, those coffee-shop discussions which played such a vital part in forming our personalities have gone out of our lives. Through this blog, my own little “SOAPBOX”, i hope to revive that process. Put my ideas out there. For criticism. For praise. For correction.