The Pakistani Spectator

“A Masters Degree holder in Computer Aided Designing and a double graduate in Computer Engineering and Aeronautical Engineering, Barun Roy is the author of 11 books including two best sellers – Fallen Cicada and Sunset Dreams. He has worked in different capacities - as a Humanitarian Aid Worker, he has worked in Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Chechnya. As a journalist he has traveled through almost all the states of India and Nepal. Barun Roy became one of India’s youngest professional editors when at the age of 19 he edited a Monthly English Newsmagazine called Beacon. His name was included in India’s Outstanding Personalities’ Directory in the year 1998 and in 1999 he was awarded the ‘Super Intellectual Award 1998’ by International Management Council of India, New Delhi.

Barun Roy, today spends much of his time, traveling, writing, researching, reporting, blogging and as he says ‘experiencing’ different cultures. Barun Roy is also deeply devoted to social welfare, working amongst farmers and tea workers in the villages and tea plantations of Darjeeling Hills.

Extracted from an article – “With Barun Roy in Darjeeling” by K. Srinivasan

My blog is The Himalayan Beacon known popularly among the blogging community and the readers as simply, Beacon Online.  

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?

I began blogging on the first of January 2008. It was something that I had been putting aside for some years. Blogging requires a concentrated effort and a commitment to post at least once in a day. As a journalist, author, researcher and a traveler, I would often find hard to devote time. Yet after I took up responsibility of Darjeeling Times, as its editor I realized that I had to start blogging. Mainstream journalism has its restrictions. Either, there is only so much that you can publish and so much that you can deliberate upon. My first posts thence, were issues that I could not dwell on in the Magazine. Within a fortnight, I began posting almost daily. By the end of January 2008, Beacon Online had latest news, exclusive news reports, cover stories and exclusive photo features. In the month of February 2008, I started incorporating interview audios and videos. By the end of March 2008, general discussions on Beacon Online had led to the publication of first European Article on the issues of Gorkhas in India by the International Relations and Security Network, Zurich. Numerous articles concerning Gorkhas in India in Marathi by Sunjay Awati, Associate Editor, Lok Satta, was published in association with Beacon Online. Within four months thus, Beacon Online has transformed in itself from a mere personal outlet of a journalist into a major news, views and entertainment provider and a platform for social deliberations to millions of Gorkhas all over world.

Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?

Yes! As a writer and a journalist I have been always devoted to my version of the truth. Of course, I derived them from facts but certainly there were more to it. Interacting with other bloggers, readers and contributors brought me closer to my own understanding of a whole new world and people. While I have authored novels, short story collections, poems, historical research works, reference and text books, I can now proclaim that my horizons have broaden up and so have my perspectives.

This is important to me to be a better writer, a better journalist and above all to be a better person.
I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?

There have been so many memorable experience that it is simply impossibly for me to point out some. Beacon Online receives around 50 to 800 comments per day. The readers being vastly experienced, learned and passionate people love deliberating and there have been numerous instances where single posts have received more than 150 comments and I had to put an end to it. The discussion that were took place for more than three months over the question of “Who were Gorkhas”, was very memorable. The first European Article on Gorkhas and Gorkhaland authored by Corinne Zurfluh, Associate Director, International Relations and Security Network, Zurich was the result of this deliberation. And so was a Marathi Article published by Lok Satta on Gorkhas and Gorkhaland.

However, the most memorable experience, that I have had during the four and half months of blogging at Beacon Online must be the time when the National Geographic Channel sought apology to Beacon Online and the entire Gorkha people all over the world for unintentionally insulting the Gorkha people. For such a Globally respected organization to seek apology through a blog to the entire Gorkha people, was certainly an achievement. However, this apology could not have been possible without the active and determined involvement of Mrs Jyoti Thapa Mani, Mrs Rashmi Dewan, Mr. Bishal Rai, Mr. Y. K. Shrestha, Mr. Ichamani Chettri among others.

What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?

I interact often with my fellow bloggers who are either doing the same kind of work or share my love for the Gorkha People, Himalayan Culture, Darjeeling Hills, Darjeeling Tea and so on. While we correspond through email or comment on each others blog, the most fascinating way of communicating with each other have been posting on each others blogs – creating a sort of a blogger’s network.

What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?

Blogging! No, doubt about it. The Internet will change the very concept of mass communication within a period a five years. And this in turn will make politics more democratic and people oriented. Power, money and corruption will no longer rule the politics.

Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?

When I began blogging, hardly 50 to 55 people would have read the posts, today Beacon Online has 1,15,00 plus readership and this is also growing rapidly. Beacon Online was around One million, five hundred thousand and sixty three in ranking when it started. Today it is 469,745 in Technorati ranking. 30 per cent of Beacon Online’s readership are from Darjeeling Hills while the rest are from different parts of India, United States, Canada, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, South East, China, Japan and Australia. The circulation of Darjeeling Times is 4,000 in Darjeeling Hills and Dooars Terai in a month, while around 45,000 readers from the region found their way to Beacon Online within March to 15^th May 2008. These statistics clearly prove that new technologies do make people more responsive.

Further the articles and essays that people send through post and emails are so overwhelming that I have been posting regularly under a new category ‘Have your say’ where the readers share their own ideas, visions and insights.

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?

The most important thing that sets Beacon Online apart from other blogs is that it involves readers as its own constituent element. Which means that readers are not just some one who reads and leaves but some one who comments, write articles, initiates deliberation, debates, post and at the end of the day have as much of a say on the general function of the blog as I do. Around 40 per cent of the articles are contributed by the readers themselves. The ‘I abide by bloggers code of ethics’ though devised and formulated by me was passed and endorsed by the readers. In fact, it is regulated by the readers and whenever, I tend to go against the code I am reminded of them by the readers. This effectively have some control over me while at the same time I can moderate and prevail over their comments and articles. What has resulted out of this is a bond of mutual respect and trust.

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?

I always believe that our life is the sum-total of the choices we make. And the ability to make the right choices is perhaps the greatest of all gifts mankind can have. I can’t say that I have been perfect with my choices but yes I am where I wanted to be. If I were to choose one characteristic that brought success to my life, I would choose my ability to make the right decision…eventually!

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

The happiest moment of my life was when I became the youngest professional editor in India. I was only 19 years old when I took over as the editor of Beacon, Darjeeling Hills’ first monthly English Newsmagazine.

The gloomiest moment of my life was when my childhood best friend and classmate died some years later during a fateful trek through the Kanchenjunga Range in Sikkim. His name was Sailesh Pradhan. We were nick named Kevin and Max after the characters of a famous TV serial ‘The Wonder Years’.

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?

New York, Moscow and Ho Chi Minh City

What is your favorite book and why?

If I am not socially lynched for it, I would have to say Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kamf. Of course, I am not a racist, or against Jews or Gays or anyone. Mein Kamf is an honest and candid outburst of a man who sincerely believed that he could do good for his people and his nation. Of course, it is other thing as to what he ended up becoming.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?

His or her eyes! If he or she stares directly at me without flicking his or her eyelids frequently, I can take that he or she is confident about himself/herself and that I can trust him or her.

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

I don’t think that bloggers should blog in order to make money.

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?

It does require a lot of devotion and time management. But that does mean that a blogger who gives ten hours per day to his or her blog can be successful. It is not quantity that matters. Blogging is a creative field and in any creative field it is the quality which leads to success and popularity.

What are your thoughts on corporate blogs and what do you think the biggest advantages and disadvantages are?

I don’t know much about corporate blogs and certainly can’t tell about their biggest advantages and disadvantages. All I can say is that every blogger and blog must be honest to their readers.

What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world friendlier and less hostile?

The Bloggers instead of preaching and venting their grievances should communicate and help others communicate.

Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?

More than five of my posts received more than 30,000 reads and 550 comments collectively.

In Himalaya Darpan Today!, 8,299 views

ISN Special Issue February 2008: The struggle for Gorkhaland ‘The First European Article on Gorkhaland’, 1,821 views

Importance and Significance of Education in Darjeeling – 102 comments 1748 views

National Geographic, Lufthansa and Hindustan Times Contest declaring Gorkha traditional weapon as ‘infamous’ 30 comments – 3933 views

Gurung remark riles CPM -105 comments – 7463 views

What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?

I have a very good friend in Aamir Latif, Bureau Chief, Online International News Network and US News and World Report Correspondent in Pakistan. I met him in Kathmandu, Nepal during a workshop and seminar and immediately became good friends. I have immense respect for him. He is very passionate and dedicated individual. I imagine Pakistan to be the same.

What is the future of blogging?

There was a time when blogging was taken to be a mere ‘diary entry’. Today, bloggers have created a name for themselves and in nations where Freedom of the Press does not exist, blogs are the only hope. In the future, I hope that Blogging becomes a part of Community Journalism, so that Journalism is able to entangle itself from corporate hegemony. However, Bloggers will have to prove their honest, professionalism and efficiency.

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?

Since, I have been blogging only for around four and half months, it has not so far drastically affected my personal and professional life.

What are your future plans?

I intend to devote myself to blogging, writing books, traveling and simply enjoying life.

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?

I wish to thank The Pakistan Spectator for giving me this honour and opportunity to share my experiences and my ideas. I hope you liked it.

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