Blog Pongal #3 – Best posts of 2008
Tweet2008 proved to be a great year for our blog. Not only did we complete 4 years of blogging , we also hit the mega milestone of 1 Million Page Views.
Read the Millenium Bat Awards from Jan 2008 – this laugh riot from Priya Raju to kick off the Blog Pongal, our annual feature to celebrate Pongal – the harvest festival.
Imagine the transformation that can take place when a society puts their language down in a written script. Sujatha Manivasagam, in Feb 2008, shared the inspiring story of Sequoyah who helped his native Indian community to do just that.
Parents murdering their daughter for a flimsy reason?! One would like to think that happens only in Bollywood movies. Read NK Sreedhar’s poignant post on the subject from March 2008.
India’s caste system always promotes a heated discussion. My post on the caste system from April 2008 is no exception. Incidentally, it was the 10th post in the Real History of India series which generated quite a few stimulating discussions.
Can passion be taught? This is a question that has intrigued me for several years. Thanks to the community on this blog, in May 2008, we laid the question to rest with a convincing set of answers.
In June 2008, the internet was agog with the idea that technology is making us dumb. I had to jump in to support technologists with “I am stupid and the Internet made me so” .
Ganesh Vaideeswaran captured the essence of “What is Patriotism” in July 2008 with some must read comments.
In August 2008, Dr. Abdul Fakhri asked the rhetorical question “Can a man be a friend of feminism” with a thoughtful post.
Can you become a historian by accident? Priya Raju, in Sep 2008, wrote about her unique hobby that makes her the Accidental Historian.
Is the instinct to support your own ethnic group more powerful than the instinct to support your own gender? In Oct 2008, NK Sreedhar raised this thought provoking question on the eve of the US Presidential elections.
Why do some parents force children down certain career paths? Sultana Fakhri, in Nov 2008, asks for a Sorting Hat to help children decide their careers.
Nov 2008, also marked the start of Priya Raju’s in-depth analysis of the Real History of Sri Lanka in a series that now has 5 posts.
If one were to take an unbiased look at India of today, it will be easy to conclude that we need optimism by the shiploads to see it survive. And survive it must, for it shines as the lone beacon of freedom in the third world. Ganesh Vaideeswaran shares his Hopes for 2009 in an emotional post in the aftermath of 26/11. Amen.
Dear bloggers, commenters and readers,
Hope you enjoyed 2008 as much as we did. Thank you very much for making SAST Wingees a vibrant hang-out in Cyberia.
Congratulations Sastwingees!! 🙂
I have loved being your reader!!
Sukumar,
Congratulations on the mega milestone. Thanks once again for providing me an avenue to post occasionally and express my comments.
And of course, as is your wont, you are very humble. You should have highlighted a whole bunch more of your posts in 2008.
Thanks to you, Priya, Sreedhar, Dr. Fakhri, Sultana Fakhri, Sujatha and others who regularly comment, I have certainly learnt a lot from this blog.
Ganesh
Congrats to the team for mega milestone hit 🙂
2008 did have some great posts, 2009 can only get better! Enjoyed reading sastwingees !
@priya:
No bat awards this year ? 😉
Sukumar – Thanks for selecting some of my posts from 2008 in this year’s Pongal. I wish we could persuade some of the earlier contributors of the blog, like Sibu Kutty, to write a few posts too.
Jass – In the past 1 year, the number of nominees for the Bat awards with stellar credentials has increased. I think a few more awards can be given this year 😉 Good idea.
Congrats guys ..keep up the good work
Revs,
Thanks for your kind words and for being a regular reader.
Thanks Ganesh for the kind words and your unwavering support. This blog pongal is extra special because we now have many contributing authors and hence the variety of the pongal turned out to be quite good.
Thanks Vivekananthan.
Thanks Jass for being a regular commenter.
Priya, thanks for being an active contributor. Looks like you do have to publish another edition of the bat awards. We can also ask the readers for nominations. What say?
Thanks Karthik for being a regular commenter.
Sukumar – Asking readers for nominations – that’s a good idea. Since the “Bat” awards are given for advancing the cause of science, I need to produce a write-up, where I’ll set the ground rules 🙂 I’ll ask for nominations in that post. What say you?
Sure Priya. You can do a post inviting nominations from the community. You can also invite nominees from your twitter community. This could be another yearly feature on the blog.
Great job. Looking forward more from sastwingees…
Thanks for a wonderful 2008 blogging. You covered up the best posts well. The series really made me wait for the next episode like I used to do when reading serial novels in Telugu vernacular weekly magazines (like Andhra Bhoomi and Andhra Jyothi) in school.
Thanks Vamsi and Subba for the kind words. Thank you for being regular commenters on this blog.
Sukumar,
Thanks for including me in the 2008 list. I am honored. Hope for a ‘writers block’ free 2009