Weekly walk-ins to the bookstore B & N, located right opposite to my residence is turning out to be a virtue. A virtue that would prevent you from information overload[provided you are reading this very blogpost]. If one would have noticed[ofcourse I don’t expect someone to notice all this trivial stuff), the posts in this blog are getting lesser by the week there by saving nice people from being information overloaded. The more I get closer with books, the more I think of those days when I finished reading books even before the librarian grasped that I actually rented that book. And the more time I spend in bookstore, I am moving away from the blogosphere. I am getting more and more embarassed of writing and indulging in blogs than doing some quality reading. There is just about so much to read than to write a who’s who of tamil cinema or how the seattle sun gets cross-linked to a kollywood potboiler flick which released a decade ago. I am starting to believe in this proverb(!!?). Whatever needs to be written has already been written. All the new stuff being written is just old wine in the new bottle. Yes, every single issue of Ananda Vikatan or New Yorker is full of re-written news and messages and thoughts and experiences.
The bookstore visit today pushed me to yet another extreme of deciding to stop gibberishly talking through blogs. Now that I’m writing this post announces that the obsessive compulsion to stop this digressive blog, hasn’t gone beyond extremes, I may be unable to guarantee anymore. Or may be ?
Confused ? Me too. It’s this confusion that keeps me coming back to write and read the blogs. Its also this same indeterminacy that keeps me asking the question, Are blogs just protocols of information overload ? And I’m turning psychically averse to the word Information Overload [This link itself is ironically a nice sample of information overload. After all who wants to read an entire page of wikipedia when the word is directly understandable]. With around 200 blogs bookmarked in bloglines and Google Reader, reading them everyday is becoming mundane. Not that the quality of writing has gone to dogs. The Indian blogosphere is getting better by the day but wider by the hour. And its tough to keep track of. Also, if you think I’m a classic case of blog burn-out. I’m not. I am not yet there.
I love the web. Just like anyone normal geek, I am intensely in love with the web[this is also known as tool lust] and how web has become the quintessential part of everyday life. Still, I want to relax with a dose of crosswords/ coffee / books while listening to Joe Satriani or Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. I know I’m turning to be a too-much dreamer but then when will that day come, when I would wake up and read the daily newspaper without switching on the PC and checking the blog. I dream.
kirukkal.com 
19 responses to “Weekly walk-ins to the bookstore”
thalai – ippo nee inna solla vara. bilog eluthuviya ? matiyaa ?
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A life without blogs, complemented by blogs…or a life inside a blog. Amazing isnt it. I think we can always do what we want to, just that how we balance the time to do it all.
I have to say some part of the information drive does actually overload the brain, especially in the field of sci-tech. the amount of journals and science websites out there really adds to the world of information readily available through books but then again theyre forcing the internet generation into dabbling with increasingly inacurate information compared to the time tested established books.
At the end of the day, blogs will remain true for a few more years as a popular culture, then will probably exist in the background as a part of our lives, imagine a wikipedia entry for everyone out there. But we have to constantly think on how to innovate and come out with creative thoughts to change the landscape of the revolution so that it doesnt just fade away into a cult culture that sounds good, but hard to practise.
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while reading one of Amit Varma’s recent posts, I had much the same thoughts.
Why do I even bother to write, when there are others out there who do it so much better and so well.why don’t I just read?
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Oh no Tilo…keep going. Please bother to write.
and same for you lazy.I want information overload!!No disrespect, but amit varmas will always exist, but few tilos or lazys that we will actually get to read, if not for blogs.
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Dear Guru,
Have been following your blog ever since footprints and i must say i enjoy reading every bit of it. whether it is anadha vikatan or life in seattle. and if you are even remotely suggeting that you are gonna take the route that selective amnesia did, then i will do everything in my capacity to stop you. May the information sharing continue.
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டேய் மவனே!
உச்சி மயிர் பிச்சிகிச்சுடா! ரெண்டு கிளாஸ் அடிச்ச பின்னாலெ சத்யஜித் ரே படம் பாத்த கணக்கா கீது.
ஒரு மண்ணும் புர்லே பா! நீ இன்னா சொல்றே? சும்மா ரெண்டாங்கிளாஸ் வாத்தியாரு ஆத்திச்சூடி சொல்றாப்போல தெளிவா சொல்லு மச்சி. ஒரு வேளை சரக்கு பிரச்சினையாருந்தா, சிம்பிளா சொல்றேன், “கடையை மாத்து” இல்லாங்காட்டி சரக்கை மாத்து! உன்னய நம்பி டயலப்பு செஞ்சுகினவன்கள ரப்சர் பண்ணாதே! இன்னா நான் சொல்லிகிறது?
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One of ur first entries without a title
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Katrathu Kai Alavu, kallathathu Ulagalavu!!!
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Everything we do – do we really want to?.
Is there anything we can do all the time?.
What our life is worthy of..?.
Can we own that, if we know?.
And after that will it worth any(thing)more?.
Reading some of your posts [about life and other ruminations] i know this is coming. Take a break. Do what you like. And hopefully, you will come across things that excite you – and others even more 😉
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“when will that day come, when I would wake up and read the daily newspaper without switching on the PC and checking the blog. ”
absolutely. I think u spoke for each one of us there. Its exactlyw hat I’m doing right now, mug of coffee in hand, blog-hopping 😦
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After reading this post from you, it has started making me feel guilty… I do not blog, but an avid reader of blogs and I do get lots of time to go to the B&N. So no value add for you ain’t it ? Maybe you need a break and then can consider what needs to be done…. As Ramesh has told above, do what you like.
All the best buddy.
Cheers
GB
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ADA PAAVI…got addicted to your blog and slowly started ‘sutthing’ blogosphere from your blog and suddenly ambonnu kai vittuduvae pola irukku.. just kidding, yes, I spend more time prioritizing than actually doing work… modern times, modern problems, still we survive. Whatever you decide, I enjoyed reading your blog. I, for one, will not miss the Tamil cinema postings, but will definitely miss all the tech and katcheri talk. Thanks for the ride so far! 🙂
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True that books are best pet but i doubt tat it’ll fetch the kind of contacts/networks blogs make…
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//thalai – ippo nee inna solla vara. bilog eluthuviya ? matiyaa ?//
Mr. Thondan, appidi ellam oru idea illa. was just relflecting my ‘peelings’. ambututhen !!
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//A life without blogs, complemented by blogs…or a life inside a blog. Amazing isnt it. I think we can always do what we want to, just that how we balance the time to do it all.//
GP, As usual bang on. it cheaper to blog but it takes time and i am peeling i’m not managing it quite right.
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//Why do I even bother to write, when there are others out there who do it so much better and so well.why don’t I just read?//
Tilo, Yeah something like that but a small difference for me is that I dont think writing is a botheration. Just that there is too much to read and writing should come out of voracious reading and rich experiences.
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Amen!
Ramesh has already written what I felt…
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Nilu never came back to answer that comment you left on my blog – about Heritage & Business.
very strange!
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Thalai, aftera break read the post. Enna thalai enna achu. Neeng ellam nirutheengna aprum enna agrathu. Jeeva nathigale illana nadu varatchiya agidum.. Venam intha thoughts..please..
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