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Why This Blog

I started blogging in May 2011, when I was with the Times of India’s Gandhinagar representative, looking after the Gujarat government. The credit for this goes to Bharat Desai, who was editor of the paper then. The year was 2011. I was discussing with him how, when I went to see a Gandhi museum on the spot of yet-to-built Mahatma Mandir, I saw life-size, even bigger, photos and cut outs of Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister. The Modi displays outsmarted those of the Mahatma, not to talk of other national movement leaders.
“I am reminded of what I saw when I was in Cuba in 1985 for a ‘Patriot’ assignment”, I told him. “I saw larger than life screens showing Cuban leader Fidel Castro giving speeches... Screens were on roads, in hotel where we stayed, everywhere.” Prompt came Desai’s advise: “Why not write a blog on this?” A blog? Only the chosen few in the Times of India were allowed, I thought. But I was happy.
He introduced me, forwarded my first blog, and it was published. Thereafter, I wrote 86 blogs for the Times of India. All of them were called True Lies blogs, the last one being “The Wavering Vaghela” in July 2017, which was removed from the site after publishing it, with no reasons given.
No complaints, part of many journalistic hazards, I thought, but stopped writing blogs for the Times of India thereafter. I argued with myself: Why not spend time instead on writing stories and blogs for my own site? This is what I have been almost exclusively doing since July 2017.
Here, I have tried to continue to blog, mostly in first person, as also my articles.   
Please feel free to read, comment, react, criticize. 
Email id: counterview.in@gmail.com

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