May 21, 2010

(I had intended to write this post sarcastically, a bit like my web freedom survey. But sarcasm’s confusing to read. So I’ll just be straight and mild.) If you’re a well-paid professional in an Indian IT services firm, your freedom is limited. (This holds if you’re a student, too.) You clock-in and clock-out. You’re searched on your way in and out. You need your boss’s permission to leave. You work on what you’ve been told to work on. You cannot be trusted to freely access the Internet. The last bit worries me the most. Perhaps because in all the other cases, there are humans I can put to shame or fight, face-to-face. Or because I am a Net addict. Don’t know why. ...

Eight years ago, I started typing out each of the Calvin and Hobbes strips by hand. Four years ago, I set up a site that let people search for strips. Early this month, I was asked to take it down. This is the story. I can’t quite remember when I started reading Calvin & Hobbes. The earliest reference I can find in my blogs is in July 1999. I remember it didn’t take me long to become a fan. I’d read every strip on the newspaper; hunt them out at bookshops; and spend a fair bit of time searching for archives online. ...