A Review of the year gone by-Cho’s Take

Quite well before the anniversary of this blog, Cho offered to do a special post on the anniversary of this blog i.e., 7^th of August. There was no reason I could deny. But owing to his pre-occupation, he couldn’t complete his post on time and finally today, after 22^nd day into anniversary he submitted his post to be published.

On going through his post, I was quite flattered by what he thought about the blog but it put me in a dilemma whether I should publish his post or not. If published, it would be almost akin to blowing one’s own trumpet and elevating one’s own ego and if not, I’d be turning away from my word. Thinking that sometimes, an ego boosting is needed (I'm human too) ;), I opted to keep my word instead. So here it is, unedited.

The dawn of hope

by Roto Chobin

Three years ago; we, a group of friend (five of us, to be exact) would gather round in the evening as there was nothing much to do in a small and sleepy town like Ziro. The meeting-place, most of the time, would be my parent’s home. And we would discuss elaborately on every issue we could think of over a cup of black tea. But, generally, we would raise the issue of anomalies and the transitions that are taking place in our society. Sometimes our discussion would get too hot that it would turn into argument. At times, I would asked myself if I had offended anyone unintentionally but my notion always proved to be wrong as in the next day our discussion will continue with renewed enthusiasm. I cannot say for my friends, but I had become a bit depressed in course of time. I was depressed because our discussion made me realize how our state was going under the bog by leaps and bounds. It was nudging me to do something rather than preaching about utopia. And I didn’t know what. It seemed to me that there was nothing I could do to make the people aware of wrongdoings of vermin, let alone change. And the vermin were at large. They still are. It was then I started thinking of putting my thought into action – to find an outlet for my frustration. As the days goes by, the outlet comes in the form of ZIRO MIRROR magazine. Meanwhile, ‘AG’ asked me my opinion about starting a website. I thought, perhaps AG too is following my line of thinking. I was pessimist about owning our own site though. First, I was planning to launch my periodical as earliest as I could. Second, I had no idea how one could generate income through web hosting and pay for the domain. Besides, I believed that the magazine (print media) is more potent medium in our province than the internet as few people in Arunachal have access to an internet. Accordingly, the message could reach faster and spread widely – the more the merrier. With that thought in my mind, I forgot all about AG’s proposal. But two months after the launch of my magazine, I suffered fiasco. Consequently, I have grown to be more immune to action and reaction. And by that time, AG had already converted his plan into reality – arunachaldiary.blogspot.com.

I have heard so many vile tales about blogs and its “terror and hate” messages that I even feared to log on to blogging sites. And the authorities bid to crack down on bloggers which appeared in some national journal in July, 2006 had me thinking that one could be incarcerated and thrown into jail anytime if their site were black listed. But when I personally visited some blogger sites, my opinion about the blogs changed. I notice so many things in a blog that even journalists fail to report and in some cases the article/essay published in blog were much better written than the illustrious columnist that occupies space in a popular magazine and newspaper. I wonder why the blog site should be stemmed when it could be really beneficial for authorities or government if they are ready to take criticism and learn from it. Anyway, I don’t remember when my first piece appeared in arunachal diary but thanks to you, AG, if it is not for you and your site I might have gave up my writing a long time ago. Within a year, arunachal diary has gone from strength to strength. It has become world-class – mind you, I am not exaggerating. Then you have a regular visitor, Buru and Tanii gal (I am curious about their true identity), whose mere comments is full of remarkable insight and inspiring too. Further, readership is steadily rising day in day out. At times, when I see local dailies it seemed even they are turning to “arunachal diary” for help. And it could be possible. So, who knows, arunachal diary will become a harbinger of dawn for the people of Arunachal in the days to come. Time alone will tell. Happy Anniversary!