Re: Good bye Baingan

[Guest guest]

Dear Baingan Bhurta,

I hope you don't leave without revealing you true identity! How do I know I

am not losing a friend?

:-)

Ravin '82

[Guest guest]

Dear Baingan Bhurta,

I hope you don't leave without revealing you true identity! How do I know I

am not losing a friend?

:-)

Ravin '82

[Guest guest]

First of all I would like to go into the history of our dear MGIMS

group.

Initially, our group was founded with the basic idea of having a forum

for ex students of and staff of MGIMS to communicate with each other

and keep ourselves updated about the various activities we were doing,

our academic laurels, birth of children and of course, the sad death

of people we were connected to. As compared to local colleges, we have

a population which disperses in four directions after we pass out,

hence such a medium was welcomed enthusiastically.

There was no post of a Moderator in those early days. There was no

censoring of mails. For some time, these idyllic times continued.

However, with the advent of Gauri Shankar Goel, there appeared some

mails which were malicious in their tone. Leg pulling and making fun

was exceeded and personal remarks were passed.

After this happened a number of times, it was thought that a censor of

some kind should be in place to edit such mails. I was duly appointed

as Moderator and an editorial board consisting of Dr. SP Kalantri, Dr.

Avita and me was put in place. This continues till date.

Whenever a mail is to be approved, I or any board member can do it

alone. However, if any mail is to be deleted, at least two members of

the board have to authorise the deletion. In the long years of my

moderation, a few mails have been deleted. Some of these were personal

remarks passed against members. Some of these were vitriolic Hindu -

Islam mails. The editorial board felt that these had no place in an

alumni group. (Even now, if at any time your controversial mail is

deleted, rest assured that it is the opinion of at least two members

of the Board to delete it. I have never single handedly deleted any

mail.)

However, I am glad to say that deletion of mail occurs only rarely and

only with very few members. In fact, our editorial policy is so broad

minded that sometimes there have been complaints that some mails which

border on vulgarity should not have been allowed. But I have always

erred on the side of leniency.

In the case of Religious debates, I have censored my own views,

however, I have allowed all other members views to be published,

because I found that my radical views evoked unpleasant reactions. My

main aim was to keep this group amicable and a happy group and not

generate controversy.

Now I shall answer Munish's mail:

<<BB has decided to decided to resign ! What does it mean ! The

moderator feels it was un-necessary. I am surprised by the policy of

this e-group if at all it has any.>>

In my view, baingan_bhurta had no ulterior motive. If any

controversial mail would have been posted, the editorial board would

have deleted it. When had first entered our group, I had

allowed many of her mails to be published anonymously. I think that

any sensible person could have seen that the mails were fun loving and

were not meant to hurt anybody.

What I mean by saying that it was unnecessary to resign is that in due

course we could have learned the identity of this member, just like

Neeti. Does not everyone remember the extreme pleasure that Neeti's

sudden entry had caused?

This does not mean that anonymity will be condoned, however, to some

extent we have to deal with it in a case to case basis. Participation

in any discussion would require disclosure of identity.

<<I remember an extreme pressure was generated to ban Gauri Shankar

(1985) from this group on a frivolous ground . And Sadhna spared no

efforts to dig into his past and whatever she said in public was

purely character-assassination and in the process linens were washed

in public.His vitriolic tongue was not liked by a few in the group>>

Anyone who says that Gauri was banned on frivolous grounds needs only

to see the mails already on the archives. I have purposefully not

deleted them precisely because I anticipated that some one would make

this very allegation in future. The case was thought to be so unique

that instead of a ban by the editorial board, we conducted a vote of

all the active members. Those who cared to vote, voted overwhelmingly

in favour of banning GSG. If Munish is implying that I have banned GSG

on my own due to personal reasons, he is grossly mistaken. GSG had

passed outrageous remarks against my wife, at that time I had

advocated some action against him. However, when I became a Moderator,

the post mellowed me down and I took no action against GSG. It is only

after he started a vile campaign against the various girls of MGIMS

that we had to ban GSG. Many of his mails were censored hence are not

available for this group.

<< ( it does not mean that GS was entirely flawless, he should also

have exercised restrain ).>>

I am thankful for small mercies that though GSG is a personal friend

of yours, you have decided to be magnanimous as to accept that he had

what you euphemistically call flaws!

<< But This BB it seems to have generated a soft corner in the heart

of the Moderator. I would maintain that an anonymous person is always

dangerous Vs a person who dares to speak out his mind.>>

Please remember that BB's mails were always moderated. Only two

letters were allowed through, and both of them were funny and naughty.

None of them were malicious. This anonymous person was never allowed

to take part in any debate. As for the soft corner, I have a sneaking

suspicion as to the identity of this person, and any person of MGIMS

will always have a soft corner in my heart.

<<I hope my criticism will be taken in a constructive manner. I would

say that if a camouflage like BB can spend a few evenings at our

e-group then we must re-consider removing the ban on GS Goyal. >>

You are correlating two entirely different matters. Even now, GSG may

be an anonymous member of this group. I do not discount that

possibility. However, as long as he does not participate actively in

any discussion, that is okay. The main aim of the ban was not to

deprive him of mails, but to prevent his participation.

Let me make one thing crystal clear. I love this egroup and MGIMS with

all my heart. When the mails dwindle, I feel disheartened and spend

extra time after a busy day in the OT just to make funny animations or

cartoons or to write humourous articles to keep this group frothy and

alive. It saddens me when educated doctors write malicious stuff or

extremely vitriolic religious mails. Ashok is terrified of criticising

Bush, as if he is living in Russia, but we allow jokes on all our

politicians here. However, we have on occasion censored stuff which

was blatantly political and pro one party or the other. Our group is

not a political forum.

I love this group because we are one happy family. We enjoy each

others achievements and triumphs. However, the moment this group

becomes a place for slandering one another or for Hindu Muslim enmity,

I would prefer to leave this group than to continue this daily torture

of seeing such senseless and mindless mail.

I hope Munish, you will take my mail in the constructive manner as you

wish yours to be taken.

Kishore Shah 1974

PS: I am extremely disturbed by this mail, and I'm sorry if I sound

disorganized occasionally through this monologue.

[Guest guest]

First of all I would like to go into the history of our dear MGIMS

group.

Initially, our group was founded with the basic idea of having a forum

for ex students of and staff of MGIMS to communicate with each other

and keep ourselves updated about the various activities we were doing,

our academic laurels, birth of children and of course, the sad death

of people we were connected to. As compared to local colleges, we have

a population which disperses in four directions after we pass out,

hence such a medium was welcomed enthusiastically.

There was no post of a Moderator in those early days. There was no

censoring of mails. For some time, these idyllic times continued.

However, with the advent of Gauri Shankar Goel, there appeared some

mails which were malicious in their tone. Leg pulling and making fun

was exceeded and personal remarks were passed.

After this happened a number of times, it was thought that a censor of

some kind should be in place to edit such mails. I was duly appointed

as Moderator and an editorial board consisting of Dr. SP Kalantri, Dr.

Avita and me was put in place. This continues till date.

Whenever a mail is to be approved, I or any board member can do it

alone. However, if any mail is to be deleted, at least two members of

the board have to authorise the deletion. In the long years of my

moderation, a few mails have been deleted. Some of these were personal

remarks passed against members. Some of these were vitriolic Hindu -

Islam mails. The editorial board felt that these had no place in an

alumni group. (Even now, if at any time your controversial mail is

deleted, rest assured that it is the opinion of at least two members

of the Board to delete it. I have never single handedly deleted any

mail.)

However, I am glad to say that deletion of mail occurs only rarely and

only with very few members. In fact, our editorial policy is so broad

minded that sometimes there have been complaints that some mails which

border on vulgarity should not have been allowed. But I have always

erred on the side of leniency.

In the case of Religious debates, I have censored my own views,

however, I have allowed all other members views to be published,

because I found that my radical views evoked unpleasant reactions. My

main aim was to keep this group amicable and a happy group and not

generate controversy.

Now I shall answer Munish's mail:

<<BB has decided to decided to resign ! What does it mean ! The

moderator feels it was un-necessary. I am surprised by the policy of

this e-group if at all it has any.>>

In my view, baingan_bhurta had no ulterior motive. If any

controversial mail would have been posted, the editorial board would

have deleted it. When had first entered our group, I had

allowed many of her mails to be published anonymously. I think that

any sensible person could have seen that the mails were fun loving and

were not meant to hurt anybody.

What I mean by saying that it was unnecessary to resign is that in due

course we could have learned the identity of this member, just like

Neeti. Does not everyone remember the extreme pleasure that Neeti's

sudden entry had caused?

This does not mean that anonymity will be condoned, however, to some

extent we have to deal with it in a case to case basis. Participation

in any discussion would require disclosure of identity.

<<I remember an extreme pressure was generated to ban Gauri Shankar

(1985) from this group on a frivolous ground . And Sadhna spared no

efforts to dig into his past and whatever she said in public was

purely character-assassination and in the process linens were washed

in public.His vitriolic tongue was not liked by a few in the group>>

Anyone who says that Gauri was banned on frivolous grounds needs only

to see the mails already on the archives. I have purposefully not

deleted them precisely because I anticipated that some one would make

this very allegation in future. The case was thought to be so unique

that instead of a ban by the editorial board, we conducted a vote of

all the active members. Those who cared to vote, voted overwhelmingly

in favour of banning GSG. If Munish is implying that I have banned GSG

on my own due to personal reasons, he is grossly mistaken. GSG had

passed outrageous remarks against my wife, at that time I had

advocated some action against him. However, when I became a Moderator,

the post mellowed me down and I took no action against GSG. It is only

after he started a vile campaign against the various girls of MGIMS

that we had to ban GSG. Many of his mails were censored hence are not

available for this group.

<< ( it does not mean that GS was entirely flawless, he should also

have exercised restrain ).>>

I am thankful for small mercies that though GSG is a personal friend

of yours, you have decided to be magnanimous as to accept that he had

what you euphemistically call flaws!

<< But This BB it seems to have generated a soft corner in the heart

of the Moderator. I would maintain that an anonymous person is always

dangerous Vs a person who dares to speak out his mind.>>

Please remember that BB's mails were always moderated. Only two

letters were allowed through, and both of them were funny and naughty.

None of them were malicious. This anonymous person was never allowed

to take part in any debate. As for the soft corner, I have a sneaking

suspicion as to the identity of this person, and any person of MGIMS

will always have a soft corner in my heart.

<<I hope my criticism will be taken in a constructive manner. I would

say that if a camouflage like BB can spend a few evenings at our

e-group then we must re-consider removing the ban on GS Goyal. >>

You are correlating two entirely different matters. Even now, GSG may

be an anonymous member of this group. I do not discount that

possibility. However, as long as he does not participate actively in

any discussion, that is okay. The main aim of the ban was not to

deprive him of mails, but to prevent his participation.

Let me make one thing crystal clear. I love this egroup and MGIMS with

all my heart. When the mails dwindle, I feel disheartened and spend

extra time after a busy day in the OT just to make funny animations or

cartoons or to write humourous articles to keep this group frothy and

alive. It saddens me when educated doctors write malicious stuff or

extremely vitriolic religious mails. Ashok is terrified of criticising

Bush, as if he is living in Russia, but we allow jokes on all our

politicians here. However, we have on occasion censored stuff which

was blatantly political and pro one party or the other. Our group is

not a political forum.

I love this group because we are one happy family. We enjoy each

others achievements and triumphs. However, the moment this group

becomes a place for slandering one another or for Hindu Muslim enmity,

I would prefer to leave this group than to continue this daily torture

of seeing such senseless and mindless mail.

I hope Munish, you will take my mail in the constructive manner as you

wish yours to be taken.

Kishore Shah 1974

PS: I am extremely disturbed by this mail, and I'm sorry if I sound

disorganized occasionally through this monologue.