What Blogging Taught Me

The title of this blog post will remind you of VS Naipaul’s book, ‘A Million Mutinies Now’.  The Naipaul book ‘is a travelogue written during the author’s sojourn in his ancestral land of India’ as Wikipedia mentions.

Mutinies are ‘individual assertions of identity and aspirations of change’ and in retrospect, I feel that my collection of blog-posts represents it. I will examine, nay introspect openly, on my blogging journey. I recently realised that I had published a thousand blog-posts on my website and it contributed to my increased self-awareness as well as change in the ways I looked at the world which are aspects of mutiny which Naipaul suggests.

Although I began blogging in June 2008, I was writing articles in both, Marathi and English languages. My articles were published in commercial magazines. These included translations, travelogues among other subjects. But regularity was missing. Kavi Arasu pushed me to start blogging, initially opening one blog and then another exclusively for HR and Industrial Relations matters.

Format Found, Lulu Discovered

I had a great hesitation to start any new activity which will be in public space as the fear of ridicule tied down my hands. Newspapers provided enough subjects to write on, but my fear came in the way. I adopted, with trepidation, the popular formats of established writers in the hope that they will work for me.

For instance, I used to enjoy reading Busybee’s (Behram Contractor’s) column in the Evening News of India. I adopted his format of using one liners commenting on the recent events. Here is a sample of my post:

Like some actresses do not allow their photographs to be taken when they grow old, I think Dev Anand should take a cue from them.

Like one has to decide whether he should stay young a la Dev Anand or gracefully grow old like Amitabh.

Friends liked it and this success emboldened me to copy another format.

Busybee used to speak to his dog Bolshoi, and Bolshoi used to make interesting observations. I liked the format, I invented Lulu, my parrot.

Once I discovered and adopted the formats, (call them structure or mould if you wish) writing blog posts became relatively easy. In my thirties I wrote poetry, and it was always set to the tune of a song. For me, the format came first, text followed. Later, I developed formats for my speeches and even for the training programs.

There are several benefits of a format (call it a mould or a structure, if you wish). It helped me organise my thoughts, plan a twist or inserting a quote to a good effect. It also helped me give a persona to the character in the blog post.  

To explain, Lulu, my parrot, the invented character, would always question me and occasionally prove me wrong, explaining what was right. The talk led to a conclusion often well captured in a quote. And truth be told, sometimes when I read a quote which made me think, I spun a dialogue with Lulu to use it. So, the format also helped me think and create a blog post.

Osho’s books are a wealth of interesting quotes and thoughts. Writing about them makes one think. He, for example, rejects Lord Acton’s famous statement “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Osho says ‘only those who are corruptible can be corrupted’. That’s true, haven’t we read stories of incorruptible Auto drivers returning a briefcase full of currency notes or jewellery?

In another lecture, Osho quotes Oscar Wilde approvingly “When God wants to punish you, HE answers your prayers!” I developed a blog post on it ‘The Divine Punishment.’

My process of developing a write up is taxing but interesting. I write whatever comes to my mind and then set it aside. This is necessary so that it does not interfere in my mulling over the subject and developing a dialogue. Such regurgitating a theme or an idea takes some time, and I have to curb my instinct to quickly type and publish my half-baked ideas. Then I decide how the blog post must end. At this stage I begin writing and know how to develop the discussion with lulu, my parrot.  

Mulling over subjects has tremendously impacted my perspectives. And my self -awareness. These changes happen gradually, slowly and unobtrusively, yes, unobtrusively. You become aware of what changed much later. Perhaps others notice it before you become aware. These are mutinies within, and they are sparked off unknowingly and unobtrusively.

Thinking about the end before lifting the pen was the way my guru Sharad Chavan (well-known news reader on Akashwani in the seventies, and also a journalist covering labour matters) used to work. I realised why it was necessary. I was practising it much before I read Stephen Covey’s ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ in which he has tagged it as habit #2.  

As I said, format or structure helps. So does Guru! Suggestions of Suneel Karnik, the well-known editor of Marathi books, were of great help to improve my writing skills.

The story of my first Lulu blog is bitter sweet. It was published on the Mother’s Day in 2009. My mother who suffered successive strokes was living like a vegetable and it was painful to see her. A doctor friend suggested that we remove the Ryles tube which fed her liquids through nose and allow her to leave this world. We did. This was a painful event which got engraved on my mind. My self-talk about it got converted to the first Lulu blog post in which I said, ‘She gave me life, and I gave her death.’ Readers liked the format and the story.

From here my creativity received a boost. I wrote several Lulu posts, and the character became popular. When I realised that I had published over 200 Lulu posts I selected a few and made a book ‘The Lulu Duologues.’ 

Emboldened by this success, I created characters of a Great Dane dog and a Siamese cat. Dogs are people friendly, especially the great Danes in my opinion, while cats are intelligent and are supposed to be more attached to a place. Great Dane dog represented ‘concern for people’ while the Siamese cat represented cold rational thinking, and occasionally condescending ‘concern for business/ production’.

Readers will immediately reckon that it is based on the famous Blake Mouton Managerial Grid model.

This format required delicate handling for the character of the two (dog and cat) were clear, but my character was not clear! Was I a person without clear view on an issue, confused person or was I to side with either the great Dane or the cat depending on issue? This format was exciting but quite a difficult to write. I found that it was easy to write a duologue – conversation between two persons – but writing a dialogue between three entities was a complex and demanding task. The words did not flow easily from my pen. Finally, I gave up this ‘trialogue’ format and stuck to duologue with Lulu, my parrot.

I still think about it. It is challenging and therefore attractive. I intend to reintroduce it. Understanding one’s limitations leaves a nagging and troublesome thought. Practice, I hope, will help me cross the hurdle.

Reportage Takes the Cake

The other format I used was ‘reportage’ which means ‘the factual, journalistic presentation of an account in a text.’

I first noticed this format while reading Dr Anil Awchat’s books. The easy to read text, descriptive style, capturing details and capturing conversations were the hallmarks of his style and I loved it. He had mastered it and made a big name for himself. Dr Anil Awchat wrote on subjects not covered by the Press and books. And he wrote what he witnessed and experienced. All this struck a chord with me.

When Arvind Shrouti (he is a consultant to more than 100 unions in Pune industrial region and is a dear friend) pointed out how companies were exploiting trainees, I decided to interview them. I think I made my first serious effort at writing in a reportage way to cover that story.

This comes easy to anyone. I took notes and noticed the feelings of people too. When I covered the story of Racold workers’ life after being shut out for seven years (see Their Life After Retirement ) the reactions of readers were angry, blaming the exploitative ways of employers and sympathizing with the workers. That was the signal that the format was effective.

As an ardent fan and friend of Dr Anil Awchat, I followed his footsteps in investigating lifestyles of ignored workers. I spoke to workers at crematorium and also the beedi workers at Solapur. The experience of interacting with them was very moving and also shocking. I felt their pain.

I met crematorium workers who were graduates, one of them had done his post grad in social work! In certain sections of the society, working in crematorium is not seen as bad a job as white collar employees believe. This was a discovery to me. I was thinking that my values were universal!

The crematorium workers have been neglected by the Municipality. They are deprived of benefits as they are on contract, and contract labour is used indiscriminately. And ignored generally. I have covered the plight of BPCL workers at length in my blog The Tragic Life of Contract Workers of BPCL. Can you imagine living on minimum wage for three decades as contract employees in a public sector undertaking which is supposed to be a model employer?

And on my visit to the beedi rolling premises, I saw a two year old boy sitting quietly near his mother who was packing beedies in bundles. Seeing me, the supervisor signalled a worker to take away the little one. But he started crying aloud. I requested them to leave the boy near his mother. I never thought such things happened in the twenty-first century and realised that they were far more common than a solitary instance. Working in the megalopolis of Mumbai we remain detached from the harsh reality of the employment in small enterprises.

I adopted the reportage style of Dr Anil Awchat, and it has led to many unforgettable experiences. They keep you thinking for a long time, make you feel helpless. The cry of beedi worker’s boy still rings in my ears. The hopelessness on the Racold workers’ faces is a sight I am unable to forget. It is a matter of coincidence that one of them once told me ‘Sir, people do not die of disease. They die because they lose hope.’

One is overcome with sadness that progress elsewhere has not reached the things at the bottom of the social pyramid.

My other book ‘People At Work’ subtitled ‘The Untold Story of Labour Management Relations’ is a collection of such and other stories.

John Kenneth Galbraith called India a ‘functioning anarchy.’ I see evidence of it everywhere. Anarchy simply means the absence of rulers. It is not a synonym for chaos. My ‘reportage’ method helped me understand the difference between the two.

It has been seventeen years of covering the stories on the issues of labour and creating stories with Lulu. I have posted one thousand blogs, yesssss! – One thousand!!

Nothing may have changed outside. But lot has changed inside. My respect for the downtrodden, my understanding of their struggle for survival. My understanding of how ‘system’ kills initiatives and keeps status quo. I have understood my limitations as a socially conscious person, and I feel both helpless and ashamed.

I have experienced high level of creativity. What it does to me is far from clear except that one feels a sense of satisfaction. I have learnt to express empathy without judgment, presenting facts in a persuasive way and leaving the reader to make his conclusions.

And I have actively sought to speak to people who rose high from difficult circumstances like Daisy Garud, a yoga teacher (What does she do now?) and Renuka Budharam, a beedi worker for 30 years and now an accomplished poet (Renuka Budharam’s Transformation Story) it forces me to introspect on how I handled difficult situations in my life. They provided inspiration.

I posted a thousand blogs on my website. And my blogging has been a learning experience in the ‘classroom without walls.’ Because a thousand mutinies happened there.

Vivek S Patwardhan

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” All matter copyrighted.