Gawker India?

At the end of last week, I noticed the reporter next to me scanning a blog titled "Don't trust the Indian Media! Riding the Indian media boom and removing skeletons from closets for three years straight!" The reporter did not strike me as subversive enough to divulge industry secrets from the inside, so I assumed she was not the author. I asked if she knew who was, and I was told that the blog belongs to a reporter at another daily and that its content consists mostly of media gossip. "Oh, like Gawker," I said. This, naturally, was met with a blank stare. After reading some posts, though, I've concluded that the comparison isn't particularly apt, anyway.

Some of the posts, including one from earlier this month titled "Trouble at HT Media?", vaguely resemble something that might appear on Gawker -- in this example, speculation on where top media executives might be heading. But many posts simply outline the author's reactions to the news of the day, and others are decidedly more personal: "I will admit to anyone who cares to listen to me, that I hardly ever studied in college, I was far too stoned or too drunk, but I still pulled off some rather good grades, won enough quizzes and even a debate or two to have a decent life and enjoy the company of some great people."

The reporter who introduced me to the blog also mentioned that it had been blocked from the servers of several newspapers, either because reporters were spending too much time on it or because it was considered too controversial. Both reasons seem ridiculous: It is neither controversial (what little gossip I've seen has merely
compiled information that has been reported elsewhere) nor, I assume,
all that entertaining to people who do not know the author directly (a lot like my blog!). I am still looking for an Indian blog that, like Gawker when I lived in New York, could consistently entertain me during a 30-minute lunch break taken at the desk.

In other news, there was a company party at QBA last night, at which staffers were treated to an open bar for a mere Rs 300. Except they did not let the Americans pay ("You are guests!'). Is it possible to be too accommodating? When it comes to open bars on Monday evenings, no I don't suppose it is.