About this Blog

Hi! I’m Nita J. Kulkarni, a freelance journalist and writer, and live in India. I want my blog to be a place which people visit to look for balanced and reliable information on a variety of subjects, mostly India-centric. One of the aims of this blog is to present information in a clear format. However, do remember at all times though that these write-ups are more like ‘columns’ and more often than not reflect my own worldview. Also, the write-ups may may fall far short of expectations, but do bear with me. You are welcome to provide any additional information in the comment section.

The subjects covered will be everything pertaining to India, its people and business, there will also be other things…about life. Bits and pieces that every human being can relate to wherever they come from. On this blog I will also try to discuss issues concerning India in relation to the world. There will be reviews of movies and restaurants once in a while too. And I will discussing issues as well as my feelings…so all write-ups may not be researched pieces.
When I first started this blog, I added my (already) published articles, but very soon I started writing pieces exclusively for this blog. That is the what I do now.

If you wish to use any of my articles for any purpose, it is best that you drop me a note and ask. My email id is:

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If you want to simply give a link to my post with a few lines from my post, please go ahead.

Some additional points:

1. Splogs are not blogs (weblogs) but simply sites without any original content…they survive by copying complete posts from other blogs and/or simply give a link (with few lines of the post) without any comment of their own. So in other words, a splog is a site with copied posts and links without comments.

2. On my Blogroll there are links to some of the blogs that I read. Please note that I do not necessarily subscribe to their views.

3. I do not ‘exchange’ links so please do not ask me. The people on my blogroll are simply there because I like them and their blogs. There are other sites which I admire and find useful and I have added these, but most do not have me on their blogroll. Neither do I expect anyone to reciprocate.

4. I make no money whatsoever from my blog and at present at least intend to keep it that way.

Thanks.

Related Reading: Why I Blog and About Me

80 Responses to “About this Blog”

  1. I will be regularly visiting your blog. Good Luck and keep the good stuff coming.

  2. Yeah, thanks Sanu!

  3. I read yr article on mediclaim. its a nice analysis, still u can add many more things to it.

    Nirmal Sanghvi Indore MP
    98934.63420

  4. Exxcellent reading, while i live here in uk , one of freinds sister a degree holder is getting battered practically every week in Mumbai, both are educated Husband an engineer with the good post in mseb, but acts like a real ghatiya kisam ka aadmi, wife refuses to make police complaints against him for the fear & 2 childrens life. could u suggest what i should do about it? She refuses any help, because of tabboo.

  5. Things will get worse…and worse. Please do beg her to seek professional help.

  6. Dear Nita Congratulations! This kind of a forum is definitely needed. Wishing u All the best. Regards Namita Shah

  7. Excellent blog!!!!!!! Keep it up!!!!

  8. Hello,
    I have surfed on the net I have found your blog. It’s amazing.

  9. Hi Nita,

    Thanks for visiting my blog (Everyday Bloggers) http://everydaybloggers.wordpress.com. :) I’d like to interview you. Your blog is interesting and you have see everything from a different perspective.

    If you’re interested, can you e-mail me at everydayblogger@gmail.com

    Thanks! :) Love your blog.

  10. hi nita,
    i wonder if you can help me with a friend of mine who has been asked for a divorce on the basis of adultery, suspicion.
    add to it her husband has taken custody of her 10 year old child.
    she is true to herself and she has not engaged herself with any form of adultery.
    she is fiancialy and mentaly not stable
    i am out to help her, if you would just help to find a solution with your fantastic website.
    i wpiuld appreciate your help and can provide any information you need.
    thanks
    Vj

  11. Vijay, though you have not mentioned whether your friend wants the divorce, I assume she does not. In that case it is not she who needs to be talked to, but her husband. Someone will have to convince the husband that your friend is innocent and it is best that this is done through a family friend (I do not know if you are one) or through a counselor. However, if your friend is not mentally stable then this can be a ground for divorce.

  12. IT IS A NICE BLOG! i’ll link you to my blog…

  13. Excellent analysis and writings. Its good to see people write their mind

  14. Excellent blog ! Excellent theme !

    This is so worth having its own domain rather than on a subdomain of another popular site.

  15. Thanks Anjanesh. I have been thinking on these lines too and maybe in the future I might do this.

  16. Nita, I liked your blog to my one http://1000petals.wordpress.com/
    and called yours “India update” - because it is what I feel your blog is! Hope you dont mind :)

    And though I basically write about beautiful, elevating things, and your posts are rather serious and often critical - I still appreciate very much the importance of your inputs.

    Your writings help me to see the modern state of India, and belive me, I have not come across the better source of information yet!
    1000 THANKS!!!

  17. Thats a nice name for my blog Axinia. Thank you. :)

  18. Did go through some of your work and found it interesting, unbiased and to the point.
    I usually don’t read blogs, as its usually personal experience (and sometimes childish)
    But you have given a satellite view of things happening all over the world (especially India) and find it interesting.
    Have noted down your link and will visit it more often.
    Keep writing.

  19. Thanks Haddock for your kind words. Feedback likes yours is very motivating.

  20. Hi there,

    Chanced upon this website through a search engine..Good blog you have here..Lots of issues, topics and stuff…Keep Going

    Cheers

  21. Pure unadultrated writing from you nita..thats very rare on a blog. Your prespective towards India and Indians is clear, and clears lot of misconceptions. I am sorry if you already have a article on your blog on this issue but would like to request you to write on ” - pros & cons of Double income no kids(DINK)-lifestyle in IT cities like Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad” . This is a slow transition which is seen in the lifestyle in metros and your blog will help out people like me to discuss openly on this.

    Thanks, will appreciate your comments

    Keep your good work going!

  22. Ahinsa, I have not writtten about DINKS on this blog.
    I have met some DINK couples and mostly they are young so one doesn’t know how long they will remain DINKS. I guess everyone is simply postponing the time when they will have kids…but I need to think a bit on this.
    Will surely write on this subject.

  23. Thanks nita.

  24. What a refreshingly different blog. I normally do not spend more than 2-3 minutes on a blog unless it is interesting. But I went through multiple posts here and spend good 20-25 minutes reading.
    I love the way you express your self and the opinion you have.
    Although I do not agree with certain points of view you have presented here, it is your blog and have full right to post whatever you want.

    Let me tell you that I will be a regular reader of your blog :)

  25. Nice blog :)
    I’m from Indonesia. I read ur articles on health tag, very good.

  26. Dear Nita, I am very interested in adopting a child of India decent. It seems like such a difficult process and I’m hoping for a new born. I’m married and live in the USA and I am of Indian decent. You seem to be so well informed, I was hoping you might point me in the right direction. If possible please reply or blog any suggestions. In any case, thank you for your informative writings. Thanks again, Sandhya

  27. I love your blog! I will be visiting frequently!

    I’m from the States so I don’t get a lot of information about India in the media here. Your blog, Nita, gives me fascinating details and insights into what’s happening. Keep up the good work!

  28. Thanks Paul. Always good to hear from a reader and such positive feedback! :)

  29. Hello Nita - Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment there. I’m honored. :) My query was whether my blog did not have original content and contained content and references to other blogs - so would that make it a splog?

  30. Hi Visitor. I saw your blog but I do not think it is a splog. For one thing you are not copying the whole post, you are giving a link. Secondly, when you give the link, you are adding your own comment to it. Plus in some posts you have given 2-3 links, which is an aggregation of links. The imp thing is your comment, if you do that, you stop your blog from being a splog. Many people who have blogs give links anyway, and they are news site links. the difference between you and them is that they give news links you give blog links. There is a site called desipundit and to my mind they do exactly what you are doing and they are pretty famous!
    Plus you have declared quite clearly that you are going to give links to other blogs so its fine.
    And very important you don’t have ads —there is no way that you can be a splog! If you are a splog then so is desipundit! In fact they more so than you as they rarely aggregate links into one post, and rarely give such thoughtful comments as your own.

  31. Wow! Thanks Nita. That comment did me a world of good. I was always worried that I never seem to originate new ideas. Once an idea is given, I am able to look at other POVs or make generalizations. I guess only some are gifted with original ideas. Anyway as long as I am useful is some way I feel gratified. :) Thanks once again.

  32. Interesting posts on a variety of topics. good blog. keep writing

  33. Desires are more powerful than hopes ….

    Abhimanyu was here ….

  34. Hii..Just happened to bump in your blog…It is nice to read your analysis of various India-centric issues…I would like to add ur blog link in my blog favts…Good work..Keep it going :)

  35. Dr.Lohith, thank you for kind words. Always, it’s words like yours which keep me going. :)

  36. hello i am really impressed and glad to join this blog.
    if possible pls mail me about blogs related to indo-american nuc. deal(123).

    hoping for a reply.
    thank you.

  37. Hi Priyank. Thanks for coming here. If you want some details about the nuclear deal you can check out Mahendra’s blog.Just type in nuclear deal in the search box on his blog and you will get the posts related to the nuclear deal.

  38. Hi Nita, ur blog is very interesting..i will be a frequent visitor.. great work..keep goin. I love ur blog for the unbiased content.

  39. Thanks Bhuvana. :)

  40. i dont know who is this nita actually,but the cintent in this blog is wonderful.i’ll be a regular visitor of this blog here after.

  41. one more thing nita,before visting ur blog i have made a post in my blog.if ur time permits make a visit to that and give ur comments. And i am a beginner in blogging.

    Hi fani4u, thanks for visiting. However I do not know your websites’ url. You need to add your url into the box which says URL when you make a comment - Nita

  42. I like the new look of your blog, Nita! Elegant, friendly and neutral (meaning objective) - just like you are ;) really better than the red-black one. Keep up!!

    Axinia. Thanks. :)

  43. See, I told you, too! :-)

    Yeah, I wanted too you know! I wasn’t totally comfortable with the red and black theme either! Was just waiting for this one!

  44. Nita, thanks for your comments in other posts. I enjoy reading your posts and you have information that’s new to me, and thanks for this space to discuss issues.

    You are welcome Amit.

  45. Hi Nita,

    I just came across your blog searching for information about cultural differences between the west and India. I read your conversation with a teacher and found it very useful and great to read. I’ll be back when time permits.
    Thanks!

    Thanks to you too - Nita :)

  46. Hi Nita, glad to know about your blog. I found it through suburbanlife.

    I don’t know India well enough. I’ve been to Delhi, Bangalore, Agra. I would love to learn more. I’ll check in to your blog to educate myself.

    You are welcome ybonesy! - Nita.

  47. Hi neeta,
    first time i have visited your page. really nice work done by you.
    I really like that u writting about INDIA. i also like and love to do such things, even i have started just now. i would really like to add your links in my blogs, only if allow me.
    u can visit my blog and site,
    http://vivchavan.wordpress.com/
    http://vivekchavan01.googlepages.com/home

    plz go through it suggest me things for improvement.

    Vivek, you are welcome to add my link. And I shall certainly take a look at your blog - Nita.

  48. browsing the internet to see the NYTimes advertisement (which purportedly cost $65,000), against sonia maino’s speech in the UN, i stumbled upon your blog. it’s good.

    please visit my website. the objective of the site is to fight pseudo-secularism, which in india means anti-hindusim not only for the political parties (which have an obvious vested interest in appeasing the minorities) but to the main stream media as well.

    this could be the reason why NY protests against sonia maino gandhi (it is a misappropriation of the gandhi brand name) india representing india at the UN were blacked out.

  49. hey, I stumbled on your blog by accident…but it was a pleasant surprise…your blog does take up several causes..and with success…as in you have readers..and you have been doing it for long..I write as well….wrote about religion, law enforcement, consumer rights…but I have not been doing enough yet..long way to go… :)

    Thumbs up to your efforts… :)

    Thanks Poonam! :) Nita.

  50. Of all the blogs,I’ve read in recent times, this one surely is the winner. I found it very informative. What I absolutely liked here is your penchant for details and the research you do before floating a post. I guess I’ll be a regular here.

    I too started a blog and it was quite popular (ofcourse not a fraction of yours) but I lacked the motivation to continue it, not because I didn’t have the audience but because of my crippled English and poor sentence formation. I am not confident enough to continue it at this point.

    I need to learn a lot from you about blogging.Keep up the good work.

    Thanks Vijay. Also English is something that one can brush up on within a few months. So don’t give up the blog if you have something to say.- Nita.

  51. Reporting a problem with the “subscribe in a reader” link at the right sidebar.

    Thanks ASE. I have fixed it. Nita.

  52. Hey Nita, I like your balanced style. Keep up your writing!

    Thanks Anand. :) - Nita.

  53. hey I came across ur blog recently. I enjoyed reading it !

    Keep writing !

    Thanks Taju and welcome to the blog. - Nita

  54. Hi Nita!

    Just came across this, which I thought I’d share:

    //Teen boy: Do you ever wonder, like, if you die, what will happen to your MySpace and your Internet stuff?

    //Teen girl: Yeah. You have my password, right? Promise me you’ll go on and approve the good comments?//

  55. ,
    Visited your Blog after a few mths gap. It has progressed wonderfully. Congrats for the width and breadth . Read about the Jatar roots. We must find out more about the Jatar who left Goa . Who was he? Where did he go? etc. How should we go about it?

  56. @Ranjit:

    Thanks for the visit!
    Well, I need more inputs from you guys..your mom, and medha too. I will be writing her a reminder soon.
    About our original ancestor, I think your dad is the best guy to tell us!

  57. Nita, here is your interview published: http://beingablogger.com/2007/11/28/i-have-never-faced-writers-block-in-my-life/

    Here is the code in case you want to put it on your blog: Read Interview

  58. @Poonam Sharma:

    Thanks Poonam. I shall definitely put it up on my blog. :)

  59. hi ter :)
    great browsing thro’ ur blog….
    lot to read……wish i could spend more time online :(

    anyway….good going…
    cheers :)

    Thanks Ano. - Nita.

  60. Great. I love to read it. some are very informative, and I added some with my lesson plans of my students in this U.S University. keep it up. All the best
    TeeKay, Florida, U.S.A

  61. Nita, congratulations on breaking 500,000. It’s an incredible achievement, but not a surprising one.

  62. Thanks Gabriel. Thanks for noticing. :)

  63. accidentally landed here to find great blog. very interesting and informative.. a rare combination.

    Great work… /Yuva
    http://iamyuva.wordpress.com/about

  64. very nice blog..will keep visiting.. got ur blog link frm nova/ruhi’s blog…

    Hi Vaishno, thanks and welcome! Hope you do keep visiting! - Nita.

  65. hey where did ur about me go?

    Prax I simply moved it from the main category to a sub-category. You will find a link at the bottom of this post itself. - Nita.

  66. Nice to see an Indian Lady Blogger.

    Nitin, why categorize me in as a Lady Blogger? Do we call you guys Men Bloggers? Considering that according to stats (in India) there are more women bloggers than men, surely we need to coin the term Men Bloggers? :) In any case I am a journalist who has now semi-retired. So if you had called me a journo blogger that would have been more natural. - Nita.

  67. Hi Nita, came across this blog today(better late than never :P ) and spent my entire day going through amazing set of articles.
    Your blog feed goes to my subscribed feeds on Thunderbird.
    Keep it up Nita and looking forward to your articles!
    Sathya

    Thanks Sathya. Always a pleasure to have readers like you. - Nita.

  68. Hello Nita,
    I am Mandeep Singh from Chandigarh. Its nice to read your blog you are really a good writer..Well i never read such a post and word which i read here…

    Well i am Photo Blogger just like to collect different colourful picture all over the net and post them on my blog( http://colouroflife.wordpress.com ).

    Please i am inviting you to visit my blog and give some suggestion…

    Mandeep Singh

    I am an amateur photographer Mandeep, but thank you for your appreciation. Will surely visit your blog. - Nita.

  69. Nita,

    Thanks for including my blog in your list !

    You are welcome. :) - Nita.

  70. Hi Nita…….

    nice blog………..worth reading it…………very informative……

    and gosh luk at that hit counter……whooping 600000….. and still on……….

    great……….

  71. Hey, thanks for visiting my blog and subscribing to it.

    I am a frequent visitor to your great blog, although I am not that active commenter.

    Knowing your great sense of humour, would appreciate a comment once in a while! :) - Nita.

  72. Nita, if you have time, I invite you to visit The Kassandra Project. They report on many of the global problems we face. You could submit articles if you like. On Kassandra, others like you provide the information humans need to make positive change and stop the madness. Thank you for writing.

    http://kassandraproject.wordpress.com/

    I took a look at that blog and well, the content is right up my street as I write about a lot of human rights issues. I have subscribed to it now and sometime in the future might just send something. Thanks. - Nita.

  73. Hi Nita!

    During the more than seven months that I have been a visitor to your blog, I have noticed that four posts have more or less consistently remained in the “Popular Posts” category:

    (1) “Real life molestation…”

    (2) “Teen-age sex…”

    (3) “How to wear a sari…”

    (4) “C grade movies…”

    Intrigued by this observation, I checked them out today, and find that except for the first one, they have very negligible numbers of responses or comments considering the length of time they have been around.

    What do you conclude from this? Are people really concerned or is it just prurient interest that draws them? Wonder if you have done an analysis.

  74. Vivek, Prurient interest in all except number 3. I was lucky with number 3 as a very reputed fashion site put the link up on their site and I get regular visitors from there. This person emailed me asking my permission. The only credit I can take for that is that I searched the net for the best video and put it up.

    That aside, let me assure you that comments are not an indication of genuine popularity. For example there are many serious posts of mine which draw hardly any comments but my blog stats show that they are very popular in terms of hits. I never go by comments to tell me that a particular post of mine has been appreciated. You will be surprised to know that a few of my movie reviews have reached all time highs in terms of hits but hardly any comments there! There are other information based posts like the one I have on adoption which gets consistently high hits but hardly any comments. I worked very very hard on that post, reviewed all information available on the subject and tried to put it in a clear format. It’s heartwarming that the post is helping others. I can name quite a few of my posts which fall in a similar category, but too many to name!
    However let me assure you that when it comes to sex, it’s a different thing altogether!
    Also I get at least 2-4 emails a day regarding my posts. these people say, don’t quote me, don’t use my name etc, and they say they don’t ‘comment’ on blogs.I am happy to say that I have a very highly educated readership!
    Also, 70 - 80 percent of my readers are from India (Alexa.com gives these details) and generally Indians are more shy of commenting than foreigners. I think familiarity with blogs isn’t there. Many do not realise that blogs can be a great medium for discussion, unlike news sites.
    Hope that answered you to some extent.
    p.s. And that is why when I get nonsensical comments by some people I always make sure I clarify my position as I have a huge silent readership.

  75. Nita,

    Thanks for that educative exposition. But when you say “Prurient interest in all except number 3″, do you include or exclude no. 1?

    I am willing to accept that a few of the visitors there may have that kind of interest, but equally, I would imagine that it is a topic of serious concern for many.

  76. Vivek, I mean exclude. A lot of foreigners are curious about wearing the saree as they see it as kind of exotic. But again they take it as an informative post and not as something to discuss and therefore hardly any comments.
    But ofcourse you are right about the educative part. I have a strong feeling that I get a lot of teenagers on my teenage sex post and they are certainly curious. This post too was linked to one fairly good site and I get regular visitors from there. Once any post gets a good link, it’s ‘made.’
    Of late I am getting visitors from yahoo buzz too. That’s a new site they have created.
    Also, generally wordpress gives me a lot of visitors as I often come in their own wordpress pages…but things like yahoo buzz and wordpress is only for the current posts, not more than 1-2 days old.

  77. Nita,
    I’m so glad I came across your blog!!
    I’m a journalist too, and I’m based presently in Bangalore… I was freelancing for NY Times and decided to coma back home for the moment :)
    I found your blog though some searches and wow, am I glad I did! It’s such a relief to find people who are genuinely concerned about our country and the direction its headed in… Count me in as a regular! :)

  78. Congratulations on coming back to India. :) Thanks for your kind words and welcome to my blog.

  79. Very good writting!

    Thanks. :) - Nita.

  80. Great blog

    Have been reading all your old and new posts like crazy! keep writing

    Thanks. Its always great to hear from readers! - Nita

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