BLOG OR WRITE?

Grazing food at my road-side cafe on a lazy weekend afternoon. That's how i can live my simple life without a moment of humdrum. Oh, before i proceed further, this is just one of the occasional ramblings i am going to proceed with.

Sitting around the cafe this afternoon, pondering the many ways in which technology has contrived to screw up my otherwise placid existence, the talk of my journalist friend turned to the art of writing.

My business journalist friend at Indian Express shoots off by saying that there's a case to be made that the internet has actually helped improve the quality of writing in general. I, for a moment, lean in close to see if any alcohol was present on my friend's breath. Detecting nothing beyond the usual halitosis, I surmised that he was being serious.

"Go ahead," I said, though i must confess i did not have an alternative either.

"Since the easy access and limitless nature of the web allow one to expose yourself to tons of writing, both good and bad, the average educated person will define the best from the worst", said my friend, ignoring his cold arabian coffee and chocolate brownie, kept at arms length from me.

In other words, he implied that a swine will gravitate toward good writing and, as a result, improve his own skills as he increases his knowledge. I, as always, expressed skepticism.

Why did i do that? Looking longingly at the almond-eyed feline dusky, twenty-two something behind my friend, i tried De-constructing it, and in a moment came up with an argument, which later made me feel good about myself.I realised that only a relative few in our post-literate society can tell good writing from bad, whether it's online or in print. Then what's the point?

I have always been advised in vain that if I dream of becoming a good writer, I should not just pen down a few words everyday but write more, day and night. More than that, I should read good writing every day. This can be accomplished on the internet as easily as it can by reading a book or magazine. But if you're the sort who prefers the venerable The Times of India (as some of my friends call it so) to, say, The Hindu (though again i do not think it to be good enough but so be it), well, again, what's the point?

So my riposte to the cub business reporter was that while the internet may be a nifty vehicle for delivering one's polished prose and penetrating insights to an impatiently waiting world, it can not in any way help one become a better writer.

Moreover, the internet leads to all sorts of unsavory writing practices, like blogging. You know, as some of my tech-savvy friends, to my horror, call it the 'journal of the 21st century'.

But i believe that blogging is not private, but very public. And very few blogs involve the kind of introspection that characterizes a serious journal. Most blogging is sheer exhibitionism, either the self-absorbed ramblings of an individual blogger (please excuse this one) or the corporate site that exists for the sole purpose of making money (again, please).

And also let's be fair and balanced like the BBC news. Of the 27 million blogs, only a handful are good enough to be read. Its like looking for a precious few needles in a mighty big haystack.

The parting dialogue from my side. Trying to surmise my friend's present favourite character, Truman Capote, i concluded that had the guy been alive today he might have been moved to say, "That's not writing. That's blogging."