Manipal: Reputed Blogger, established researcher, teacher and final year student at the Centre for Study of Culture and Society- Nishant Shah, was down in Manipal this week as an expert invitee for the Manipal Media Students’ Convention. Currently pursuing his thesis in Cyberculture, he addressed the delegates on ‘The conditions of a Narrative’. Team TMJ managed to whisk him away for few minutes for an exclusive interview, the excerpt of which is below.
Q. For how long have you been Blogging?
A. Well, I started blogging seven years ago, when there was no Microsoft Office, before the GUI came in; when it was merely ‘movable type’, the concept of Blogging did not even exist. Initially I had 4 blogs which were accessible to the masses; today, I am no longer a public blogger, I have 2 closed blogs which can be read by people I choose to give the password to.
Q. What made you stop Blogging publicly?
A. Well, I never started writing for every random person. I created an account in the Live Journal and started expressing myself, never meaning for it to become a public blog. The day I saw 8,500 hits on my account, I actually got scared. I did not want random people knowing about every single aspect of my life, my innermost thoughts, preferences and the like. That’s when I consciously decided to stop. My last post was written in September last year.
Q. The reason you started Blogging in the first place.
A. Ever since I can remember, I have always been a writer. The primary reason I started blogging was because it was a lot of fun!
Q. What is the basic theme of your talk to the delegates of MMSC?
A. ‘Text is written to be read. Factors that help one understand what is being read are Text, Context, Textuality, Meaning, WHO reads it, Fact and Truth Value.’ This concept is basically discussed and analysed in my presentation here.
Q. How has it been interacting with the other experts and delegates this weekend?
A. Amongst the experts, Kiran Jonalagadda is a colleague, and Lawrence Liang and I have interacted with earlier as well. It was nice meeting the others like Annie Zaidi, Chandrahas and Peter Griffin. Their sessions were really interesting as well. The delegates were really enthusiastic and interactive.
Q. Which was your favourite workshop/ talk/ seminar in MMSC 2008?
A. (laughs) Undoubtedly mine. It’s always the best!
Q. What is your opinion of the students of today?
A. Their willingness to learn is impressive. In any interactive session, it is actually the duty of the resource person to draw the crowd out and demand attention. I totally believe in the concept that ‘not to be bored is a birthright’- it is completely valid for students to expect to be entertained and taught at the same time. With regard to this event the students and delegates were simply brilliant.
Q. What forthcoming such conferences or conventions are you going to be attending?
A. Over the next couple of months, I will be traveling to Jamaica, South Korea and Geneva. I participate in such activities very regularly, almost every single month. The last 3 months I have been busy with my thesis but hopefully the upcoming events will be experiences to remember.
Q. Finally, your overall experience at MMSC 2008?
A. Apart from the bus journey from Bangalore, the experience has been ‘awesome’. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I loved coming to Manipal and giving back something to the University that is shortly going to give me my Degree.
Sub-edited by Ruchika Sharma
|
