I wonder if someone know of a good english-speaking Indian message board (ideally of the same quality as the SDMB, but I might be dreaming) where I could lurk a little just in order to get a clue about what kind of issues Indians are discussing, what appears important to them, what stance are widespread on various issues, etc…
Actually, I’m interested also in other non-western important countries (though I assume interesting english-speaking boards are less likely to exist in many other countries). For instance, a Russian or Iranian or Chinese english-speaking message board. Of course, french-speaking would do the trick too, but they too are less likely to exist, and people on the SD would be less likely to know about them, too.
I’m not interested in western europe message boards (except if someone know of a “pan-european” message board, with members from a wide range of european countries) nor Canadian, Australian, etc…boards (since there are a number of posters from these countries here, and concerning Canada since i’m already directly in touch with some Canadians).
I might possibly be interested in some latin-america spanish-speaking boards too (though my spanish is quite limited) providing that they also are “pan-american” (not really in a specifically Chilean or Mexican board, for instance).
Thanks in advance.
Goodness is a matter of opinion, so I’ll move this thread to IMHO.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
I don’t think it’s a message board but my father hangs out at www.samachar.com a lot.
You could try www.sulekha.com - it is a very active site. Go the the Coffee House for discussion. You could also check out the Weblogs section - it is very good - and a lot of exchanging of ideas goes on there.
Although I dont know any specific message boards, I suggest searching YahooGroups.
They have lotsa groups dedicated to various issues and I am sure you can find what you want there.
I’d like to know about other good boards too, different viewpoints are always interesting at least.
As for Russian boards, I could only think of Pravda’s english forum. The place’s pretty weird and its quality questionable, not to mention that quite a few of the most active posters seem to be Americans… But obviously finding an English-speaking Russian board inhabited only by Russians is more or less a doomed effort. Same goes for the whole Eastern Europe, I’d guess.
The Japan Today forum is mostly in English, but has participants from a wide range of countries. It’s not nearly as interesting as the SDMB, IMO, but can be a good read now and then.
I’m sublight over there, as well.
sulekha.com is nice. I have a friend working for them. I’m not sure about the message boards, but they do have some really good articles.
Thing is, you’re not likely to get a complete understanding of the issues facing the country or its people, primarily because the vast majority of Indians are still without access to the Internet. Those that do have access are usually the more affluent, although that’s rapidly changing.
Sites like sulekha.com, etc. are more appealing to Indians abroad than Indians at home, and a lot of India specific sites seem to be targetting the ex-pat Indian community.
The messages I’ve seen posted on the popular news sites ( www.timesofindia.com www.mid-day.com etc.) are mostly drivel, and biased and rude comments. Rarely have I seen well thought out and incisive comments.
There is certainly nothing of the class of the SDMB. Which is a pity.
The primary issues facing the country as a whole would be population, poverty and illiteracy. Communal discord also seems to be on a rise nationwide.
To give an example of an issue currently being debated in the media:
A hindi movie titled “Girlfriend”. The story revolves around a lesbian affair.
A fanatical group of activists (the self proclaimed “moral police”) decides to vandalize theatres playing the movie, while lesbian and gay activists oppose the movie for stereotyping the lesbians as negative persons:
http://www.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/june/85638.htm
Another issue that recently hit headlines: The minimum age for drinking in the city of Bombay (Mumbai). The law states that those who drink must be 21 (or 18, I’m not quite sure) or older and must carry permits. This is never done. Drinks are served across the counter without any restriction. A political party recently made an issue about youngsters going to pubs and discs. There was much noise made, and bans called for. However, after a few days of restrictions the realities on the ground returned to normal. And everyone went along their merry ways.
Essentially, the metros are torn between the conservatives and those who are more in tune with western cultures. While the former are more vocal and sometimes destructive, the latter continue to live unhindered. In between the two camps lies the rest of the crowd, mostly concerned with other, more pressing, issues.
After mentioning mass poverty and illiteracy, the two examples of the hot issues you provided are pretty much empty issues and appear geared towards the small affluent.
Yes, litost, that is essentially my point. What you may see in the media or read on Indian specific message boards are not necessarily issues that the general populace is largely concerned with. It’s more likely to be issues that affect those who are better off than the majority, e.g. the people who speak good english and frequent Internet message boards.
As a further example, the hot topic currently on my school alumni message board is the Euro 2004 championships.
If you do make a trip to a city like Bombay, you will be amazed at the disparity between the rich and the poor. You will see swank high-rises flanked by slums. You will see an old beggerwoman knocking at the window of a Maybach. People sleeping on the streets outside the Hilton. It’s seriously mind numbing.
p.s. clairobscur, I hope I’m not derailing your thread.
Doesn’t matter. You bumped it in the process. Actually, I saw it dissapear promptly from the first pages, so I assumed it went away without answers, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed them before a long time (I noticed I actually had answers to a question about an obscure quote of an arab prince perhaps one year after I posted the question, for instance, when I checked my own “started threads” for another reason).
So, thanks for the answers so far. Keep them coming…
Concerning the fact that the posters on the message boards listed won’t be a representative sample of the Indian population, nor necessarily discuss the most relevant issues, but it’s better than nothing…
What can one expect when half the population is close to the poverty line and another ~40% don’t have access to the internet?
But, let this not discourage you. It is entirely possible that the “educated elite” do discuss the pressing issues that India faces. Sounds arm-chairish but that’s what message boards mostly are.