jerome

Its’ been a year.  And hence, I thought the time was apposite to review my iland sojourn and share with you my experiences of – ‘Being Jerome’.

Honestly, not much thought had gone into selecting that name. Just randomly picked one from a book I had recently finished reading. Blogging on rediffiland was also accidental, experimental to begin with (as I wished to continue on blogspot), but, when one of my first few blogs featured on rediff home page and I made more friends, I decided to stay on. At that point of time, I had tried to remove ‘Jerome’ from my blog and replace it with my own name; but, thanks to rediff (well, actually, It was me who didn’t know how to do it the right way), my posts became inaccessible and I had to revert to my original settings. Moreover, many fellow ilanders had already begun to identify me by that name and this was another reason I chose to stick to it, and ‘am still with it. 

Do I regret? Of course, not! It has only proved to be a blessing in disguise. Besides inspiring me to write a couple of my posts, it also provided me with even stronger reasons to stay under veil. However, I would confess that I have endlessly envied fellow ilanders for coming up with ingenious user names – thoughtworks, virtual reality, buddha, etc. and even better blog titles (rambleland, probabilitytisgod, hungryindian). Nevertheless, I can bet that this small, innocuous, inadvertent choice of name, ‘Jerome’ has proved to be more useful than any of your more intellectual one’s would have. 

There are, of course, some ilanders who know me well enough personally. What still surprises me is that none of them has ever used my real name on iland. I don’t know what makes them treat this as a secret; but, thanks guys for your thoughtfulness! : ) 

On landing, Buddha and Think Tank were the first friends I made. I was fascinated by Buddha’s fictions and have since looked forward to reading everything by him. I was especially enamored with his writings on his family and absolutely loved the post from his daughter. Going through his blogs invariably reminds me of a supplementary book on English literature that we used to have in school, ‘Read for Pleasure’. I loved them at school and would read them over and over again. I wish I could make one out of his posts and keep it with myself for reading at leisure. 

Think Tank - More than his writings what impressed me was that somehow he featured on almost every ilander’s ‘favorite list’ (including mine!!). And the number and length of comments on his posts would be longer than the post itself! Since our very first argument soon after I joined (which ended with us not talking for more than a month), we have constantly had our off-iland discussions on varied subjects (which, funnily, still end up the same way!). These constitute my best interactions with anyone from iland and a very pleasant and learning experience, especially, because we hardly ever agree. : )

I miss Preethi Nair and Rajesh Kumar Rai on iland. Having Preethi around, for some reason, always made me feel like I had a friend here, although, there wasn’t much personal interaction between us. I felt at ease and confident. She does not know this, but she has unknowingly inspired me to keep writing and stay here. I do wish she comes back.

Rajesh Kumar Rai – Do I have to say anything? We have busted our guts out laughing while reading his posts. He is undoubtedly one of our favorites and among the best of all out here.

For a long time I confined myself to a few set of fellow ilanders that I had initially made friends with, and almost refused to venture out and read more from others. The two most important that I regret missing are Sarath Chandra and Thoughtworks.

I remember the first time I read Sarath’s blog, it was almost kind of intimidating and I had logged off immediately. Thereafter, I would visit his blog every few days, reading a little more every time. There is a piercing clearness of ideas and honesty in his posts, a potential to shake your firmly held beliefs and yet a profound simplicity in his writings. To me, reading Sarath is like reading classics – something one almost reveres and still gets intimidated by.

There’s another person I got to know through the blogs but not from the iland itself and someone who has had a far-reaching influence on me – Madhumita. She had written to me after reading my blog on rediff homepage and we have been regularly communicating ever since. In her, I have found the only person who could satisfactorily answer my questions on God and religion and the only one with whom I have never had any kind of a disagreement. I love the way she takes each and every query I have – describing and detailing at length and covering all possible aspects to help me understand. When in doubt I merely have to shoot off a question to her, and it is taken care of. In less than a year’s time, she has come to be a very important part of my life and it makes me happy to know that she is around.

Thank you, Madhumita.

Thanks, Sarath, for keeping your promise. : ) (It has always surprised me. I’ll wait this time.)

Thanks, Rahul, for all the discussions between us.

Thanks, Fuber, for reading out your blogs on the phone : ) I loved listening to them.

Thanks, Nikhat Fatima for getting me out of the trouble : ) and always keeping in touch.

Thanks, Buddha, for the motivation and for the best gift on my birthday (don’t try guessing, you won’t get it).

Thanks Preethi, Rajesh Kumar Rai, Moe M, Ekantapadhika, Sahil Banga, Sarita Singh, Chetan Alandkar, Souvik Gupta, V Chennai, PG, Vinay Vaidya, Raj Mishra, Mukesh Tolani, Shalini K, Aruna Nonie, Sahil, Rudra, Beena John, Sanat Ray………….. and everyone else on iland.

Hopefully I’ll be more regular this  year.

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