The Pakistani Spectator

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

My name is Indrajit Samarajiva. My friend call me Indi. My blog is indi.ca, which I started at McGill University in Canada. Much love to Montreal, and the Jazz Festival, and The Plateau. Now I live in Sri Lanka and I write about my life. I am a Sri Lankan citizen by descent, I am registered to vote and I love this country. My site covers what I love - photography, poetry, and humour - as well as what I have to do as a citizen in a democracy - which is politics. One recent story was the attack on our cricketers in Lahore. That was nuts.

Yes. Blogging is different because there’s constant audience feedback. I’ve never written for the hits or the comments, but they have  taught me to communicate to people I don’t agree with. And to fight and win if I need to. As I start writing for a newspaper (the late Lasantha’s Sunday Leader) I’m better able to counter possible criticism and get my point across to a wider range of people. I learned most of my writing from reading as a child, but I’ve learned a lot of communication and compromise from the blogosphere.

During the tsunami the mainstream newspapers were subscribers only, so no local news got out. The blogs were open, and traffic spiked. I worked to deploy a blog for Sarvodaya, the biggest shramadana organization organization in Sri Lanka. Sarvodaya is called a local NGO, but it is about much more about village level self-empowerment. The site was linked to by Apple and Google as a preferred tsunami donation source and, more importantly, it got news out and raised money. All accounts and photos were also released on the site, making donations transparent and effective. It made a difference.

I co-founded a blog aggregator called kottu.org. It’s named after a local food, you should get it if you’re in town, try Pilawoos on Galle Road. Kottu uses Wordpress and a FeedWordpress plugin to syndicate over 300 bloggers in one place. I read that, and comment on posts that interest me.

Barack Obama. His system of small donations broke the back of big donors. Howard Dean started it, but Obama did it. More importantly, he’s using a website to make his stimulus projects transparent. And for using a Blackberry, and generally understanding and using technology, and being of the new generation.

Yes. In Sri Lanka the private sector is really noticing the blogs and forums. It hasn’t hit the public sector yet, but I think that’s just a matter of affordable mobile broadband access, and reaching a critical mass.

I’m a good writer, purely on form. Some of the stuff I write about is boring or wrong, but I generally write it well. My parents blessed me with a good education and I have been writing fiction, poetry and prose since I was about five years old.

My faith, Buddhism. And meditation. I get depressed if I don’t meditate. Of course my parents, for giving me every opportunity.

I was in West Virginia at a monastery with Bhante Gunaratne and I had one mediation where I absolutely left my body. My gloomiest moment was high school, and it was long.

Arugam Bay, east coast of Sri Lanka. I can’t think of anything else. I’d like to stay in a nice hotel with a hot water shower.

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. Because it felt like my life. Or Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, for what he discovered about language.

If they’re hot or not.

No. I remember that my first grade teacher Mrs. Stewart told me I could.

I don’t benefit that much directly (through Google Ads), but it’s effectively my business card. Every job (and most lovers) I’ve got have been through the blog, and that reputation.

No. It’s a full-time job. If I wanted to make my blog financially successful I’d need to do it from 9 to 5. More like 2 to 4 am for me, but it takes a full day’s work.

I believe in words, and I believe in people. As long as we’re talking and sharing we’re not killing each other. Blogs just make it easier for more people to write and talk and connect.

Andrew Sullivan. I don’t read that many blogs.

I wrote something about Sri Lanka girls. That gets constant traffic, but I think those people are looking for porn. Anything round election time gets hits.

I think the country is out control. From Al Qaeda to the Mumbai attacks to the attack on our cricketers, the level of violence is crazy. I don’t blame Pakistanis, but it’s just scary that things are so out of control.

Pakistani people are people. I like some and I don’t like some. I’m interested in the culture, there’s a lot of places I’d like to visit and food I’d like to eat. I honestly don’t know Pakistan that well. I appreciate that your major faith and culture value hospitality, but something is obviously wrong on a security level.

Andrew Sullivan, and Dooce.

The plumbing.

Aggregation, and making money and becoming a dinosaur in its own time.

It helps me get laid and get jobs.

Get laid, get more jobs. Getting married and settling down would be great.

Please keep reading and writing. I’d love to see another side of Pakistan now that we can’t really play cricket anymore.

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