Links to some blogs....

Have been trying to update some of my blogs in recent days. Here's a list of the ones am working on: blog on free software and non-profits in association with Tacticaltech.org; on Indian documentary film; on Goa; and another on Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in India. Then, there are also some badly-needing-to-be-updated blogs on FLOSS in Asia; the BytesForAll theme; journalism in Goa; books on Goa; keeping track of some other Indian and South Asian blogs; alternative views from India, and a new-attempt at keeping track of radio-related issues in India.

Blogging against censorship (.np)

Radio Free Nepal is a blog which protests the coup by that country's King earlier this year. It says: "King Gyandendra of Nepal has issued a ban on independent news broadcasts and has threatened to punish newspapers for reports that run counter to the official monarchist line. Given that any person in Nepal publishing reports critical of 'the spirit of the royal proclamation' is subject to punishment and/or imprisonment, contributors to this blog will publish their reports from Nepal anonymously." Incidentally, a Google search for nepal + blog thows up United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal, along with this article Nepalese bloggers, journalists defy media clampdown by king. Technorati's search on Nepal throws up a total of 43,443 posts. But it's hard to say how many of these are related to human rights and democracy issues there. Maybe a small percentage. Life's like that.

Recipes... of varying Indo kinds

Minal from Mumbai has this blog called Indian Recipes, subtitled "recipes for all manner of Indian food". Currently on the top is one for "experimental veg biryani" which goes with a warning: "This is not the authentic vegetable biryani you will get in hotels. This preparation was experimented on me for my quick lunch at college. It worked wonders and remains a favourite dish among my friends and family:-)"

Goa, IFFI, a gripe and a film

writer-in-exile's blog on IFFI, the International Film Festival of India and some comments: "Remind me next time never ever to think that things can go smoothly when the Government is in charge. Total chaos reigned at IFFi yesterday and at 3 p.m. when we entered we were told that we could not collect our media accreditation passes as the counter had shut at 2! wow, and no one informs us. I even attended the press on in Mumbai and there too this was not mentioned. And if you didn't have your media card you couldn't collect an invite! God alone knows what ingenuity I had to use to get an invite and how the photographer entered is another story. Anyhow, that confusion done, we settled down to two and a half hours of speeches (festival director, Jaipal Reddy, CM of Goa, Dev Anand, Chiranjeevi and then the performances: Amisha Patel, urmila Matondkar, Blaze, Meera, Prachi Shah, Dino More and his leading lady from Holiday and the three girls from Garam Masala plus Himesh Reshamiyya and Hema Sardesai. But the best part of the evening was the two-hour Brazilian film Olga. It left me speechless with a lump in my throat. What fantastic acting. It's based on the true story of a a natural-born German woman Olga Benário Prestes, who falls in love with a Brazilian communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes"

A Chennai journo keeping a blog

A journo from The Hindu in Chennai has been keeping this blog, called Whyte Space which is currently maintaining a "Goa Journal". It cautions the reader: "The views expressed in this blog are my own and are NOT endorsed by my employers or organisation. Also, this blog may contain explicit language not suitable for children So kids, if you're caught reading this, your Momma's gonna whip your ass." Sudhish Kamath, a 28-year-old film-maker has been covering the International Film Festival of India-2005 at Goa and one of his reports is titled IFFI Panaji: where lines between art and commerce blur. Some recent jottings (or photos) include Spot the park bench!, INOX, Behind the scenes, Making of IFFI, King Momo's date, King Momo's desi date, Portuguese Item number, Portuguese flavour and there's probably more to come.... They don't has space for such comment in print, do they?

Comments about Goa

Saltwaterblues' blog entry about a holiday in Goa, male bullies, pig slaughter and the like: "In many way this was a disappointing trip. No lighthouse at Aguada, no nanga-punga's at Anjuna Beach, no Martin's Corner at Betalbatim (which they say serves the best food in Goa), no Palolem (really beautiful beach), no Jazz House (awesome jazz joint at Candolim). All I did was eat lots of fried fish, drink lots of beer, and take long walks on the beach."

Cheap holidays... and Goa

This is from a cheap holidays site... dunno if Goa is supposed to actually feel flattered: "If your considering Goa as a holiday destination and what a superb destination it is, then please get a Visa before you travel as you cannot get one in country. So have a browse or call us we are here to get you the very best in holiday deals and advice."

Goa to Dombivli (Mumbai) on cycles...

Priyank.com [Priyank Thatte's] travelogue narrates a bicycle expedition that covers 600+ kms: "After 2 years, I managed to digitalize my travelogue about the bicycle journey from Goa to Bombay that I undertook with 5 friends in November 2003. It is now available in the Photo Gallery Travelogue section of this website."

Detailed blog of a trip to Antarctica

GoanToAntarctica is Goan scientist Helga do Rosario Gomes' blog of her second, and currently-ongoing visit, to Antarctica. Helga has been active in cyberspace, and was earlier a scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa. GoanVoiceUK commented: " Helga do Rosario Gomes has been reporting in much detail, on Goanet, about her second trip to the Antarctic. Find out more about Helga and her exciting research activity.

Goanet blog... (sneak preview)

Check the Goanet blog, just being launched at http://www.goanet.org/blog/. Goanet is a 11-year-old mailing list that links people from (specially expats from) Goa on the west coast of India.