A little IIPM at home ?!?

"It's my birthday today ?"

My toddler has been asking this question as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning for three straight weeks..

We knew all along that this year when the second one is born, we will not be able to have a birthday celebration for her the week of her birthday.

But how can you disappoint someone this cute ?



So decided to have an early birthday.. All our friends and relatives understood and showed up for this early fake birthday party.. it was as real as it gets !!



Unfortunately, I will not be able to post any more photos of this birthday!! Apparently the wife and mother in law have "rights" (under what section , law, constitution, etc.. etc.. I do not know!) .. Lets just say they have the "right" not to have their photograph displayed in my blog.

I tried to argue that their photos are already in my blogs (see the flying monkeys post to see Mother in law) and any random post to see my wifes photo!!

I lost this one to the local censor board !! Fundamentally they have threatened me with stuff (pressure tactics) just like the ones mentioned in the IIPM related blogs.
I cannot resign my position as husband and son in law because my "freedom of speech" is dear to me !!

Based on this episode, I suggest we coin a phrase "IIPMed" !!

IIPMed : Attempting pressure tactics to get things done your way, especially with respect to making people remove posts, photographs, articles from media.

I was IIPMed today !!

Disclaimers !!!

Have spent the last hour reading about disclaimers, case law on disclaimers, how people can sue you even for someone elses comments displayed on your post etc..

the most helpful link was this !!

So, I will put two disclaimers.. One will be on the header, which will make my blog look ugly .. so I will make it the smallest font possible (he he he ..)

There will also be the second disclaimer on the "post your comments" box.

This is what happens when the world has more supply than demand for lawyers !

Take care !!

Me scared..Are you ?

Read this recently on Kaps's site.

Media reports disappear after a few days ?

Also read his other blog on what Indian Media officials had to say and it looks like a few things are on the horizon

a. Indian print media folks recognize blogs as a potential threat to print journalism
b. They would like to put "censorship" on blogs (havent heard of any other country trying to regulate blogs, other than military blogs or things that affect national security !!)
c. there are concerns about the internet media returning the investment !!

Made me laugh out loud first. The typical Indian business mentality is an expectation of instant ROI (return on investment). This is the reason why you see companies like Intel still struggling to set up a manufacturing plant in India !!

Secondly, India might actually succeed in Banning or censoring blogs altogether. India can do a lot of things that other countries can only dream of.. Just kidding..

That thought actually scared me. At the end of the day the Print media has enough clout over the virtual media. Is this report a note of caution to all bloggers to watch what they write, have disclaimers, have legal counsel ready or should we all turn on Ads on our blogs to show that we are a business enterprise generating revenue ???

Next thing on my Agenda : Come up with a nice disclaimer for my blog.

A handshake to the faces ...

Finally met Narayanan Sir at Saravana Bhavan today. Also met Ambi (a budding blogger). Had a nice chat !

Always thought of Narayanan Sir as

Narayanan Venkitu
Emeritus Professor of Blogology
Bay Area Bloggers College

The man has an aura of reverence among the bay area blogger community for his sincerity and his guts to take on social issues.

He was as sincere and casual in person as his voice and writing on his blogs. It was nice to hear these two guys talk about their blogging experience, the consequences of blogging at home, things in general, India, nostalgia.. It was like web surfing, except this was a converstion with real people about whom you seem to know so much and so little at the same time (now, what i just wrote may sound stupid, but that is exactly what went through my mind at the time).

We should do this more often.. May be a bay area desi bloggers coffee social ?

Would like to thank these guys for taking the time to meet me.

Catch them young !!

Recently read Anu_P's post on how her mother was training her to do household chores.. I got a good laugh reading that. This morning, was cleaning up my daughters toy chest and found this !!!

Have no clue who got it for her and when ! But the label on the box was quite a shocker. Train your daughter to be a good daughter in law ? : by getting her used to cooking utensils at the age of three ???

I am not against women cooking. Women should cook if they feel like it, and so should men. But "goodness" in a daughter-in-law being judged by her cooking skills or penchant for the stove ? Now that is hilarious ...

So the Indian Barbie should learn to cook and clean ? Do they have pardha (veil) wearing barbies in the conservative countries in the middle east ? just wondering ...

ps. I dont know if this is a Barbie barbie or some local indian manufactured stuff which just uses the barbie name !