Mousetrap - 39

This week, a reversal. An all-blogs, all new column.


So many new blogs over the last few weeks that they deserve a special edition of this column.

From the shadows
How the Other Half Lives
A blog with a difference. With a focus on the parts of India that the (if you’ll pardon the expression) Shining bits tend to leave in the shade. The parts that are, if not actively ignored, then definitely not quite in the centre frame. Expect to see difficult questions on subjects like liberalisation, rural growth, and a bunch of other issues that we really should know more about. A collaboration between several well-known Indian bloggers, it is just a few days old and already drawing comments as long as its posts, and impassioned debates. Worth a bookmark on that score, even if it wasn’t for the quality of its contributors and the importance of the subject matter.

Blog-about-town
Metroblogging Mumbai
Metroblogging is a worldwide syndicate of blogs in and about, well, metros. And the Mumbai version is the first based on an Indian city, and the 40th in the network. Metblogs, says the parent site, “are a hyper-local look at what's going on in [a] city.” For the native, they’re a good way to keep pace with happenings, for the newbie and the visitor, a way to figure out what it’s all about. And of course, for the expat, a great way to keep in touch with home. The Mumbai edition seems to be finding its feet still, but the groundwork is done, so, hey, watch this space.

Everyone’s a critic
Desicritics
A South-Asia centred spin-off from the popular blogcritics.org site, Desicritics launched on Republic Day. They plan to cover culture, media, sports, politics, business and technology. With the sheer numbers of its contributors (86 as of this writing) you’re guaranteed variety, and quantity. Pleasantly surprising to find there’s quality too. Not all of it, mind you. Well, okay, let’s put it this way. Ithink some of the posters have, ahem, “issues.” The site’s design leaves much to be desired, in my opinion, but the good part is that the critics are sporting about criticism. The designer came by my blog to leave a graceful comment after I’d done a post dissing the look. So the spirit is right too.

Reader suggestions welcome, and will be acknowledged. Go to http://o3.indiatimes.com/mousetrap for past columns, and to comment, or mail inthemousetrap@indiatimes.com. The writer blogs at http://zigzackly.blogspot.com.

Published in the Times of India, Mumbai edition, 5th February, 2006.

Tags: The Times of India, Mousetrap