Suspicious nannies for writers in FB

Picture credit: www.kevingreenstein.com

Despite the Indian Government’s interference in the privacy of individuals, on the Netzone, fakes, thugs and possible terrorist continue to thrive.

“Currently two government spy agencies — the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) — plus seven others, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Narcotics Control Bureau, DRI, National Intelligence Agency, CBDT (tax authority), Military Intelligence of Assam and JK and Home Ministry — are authorised to intercept and monitor citizens’ calls and emails, under the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, The Indian Telegraph Act 1985, Rule 419(A) and other related legislation. (The Hindu, June 21, 2013, India’s surveillance project may be as lethal as PRISM by Shalini Singh. See Link below)

We are all disappointed by this. Our privacy is completely at stake. In fact, we have none. As citizens of India, we are appalled at what we have just read, but as Netzens we are facing another threat, of being exploited for deceitful purposes.

Take for instance, a recent happening when two authors wanting to go that extra mile, sought the services of an editor, found on Facebook. Apparently, the person professed that their skill at editing was good, because they had already been doing it for a while. Besides, they also had self-published books to their credit.

The Invoice sent to from a gmail account was not on a Company letterhead. It did not have an address but did have mobile number. There was no cause for worry it seemed although bills were asked to be made in Company letterheads, for payments to be received. These requests were not fulfilled.

Indeed, it became a matter of high probability that there is actually a ruckus going on, on FB. With all and everyone joining the band wagon as wannable authors, there is good money to be made by independent editors floating around in Social Media.

The modus oparandi , is very simple. For the uninitiated it gives out the stench a bit late though, which is exactly the reason for this post.

Imagine: Someone writes to you and says you have a great book; it’s bold and path-breaking. You respond with a quick thank you! But only if the editing was done better, the stories would have been more powerful comes the quick reply.  You hurry to say, you had too many rejection letters; the manuscript had been lying in your computer for more than 6 years; you needed to allow the book to see the light of day! And of course, you would take more care this time.

You realise that in a sunrise industry, like Publishing in India, editors don’t come cheap. With Indian authors writing in English, Literary Agents have mushroomed like never before. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, so why not your editor too?

After all, as much as they are greedy, so are you. You too want to become an author; a God out there! And they have what it takes to make you one. They can edit, format, help you upload your book on Kindle Amazon.com and then help you with the Digital campaign to increase the sales of your book. No, it does not matter, that there are spelling mistakes, language errors and really you had to spend two days to undo their mistakes, once the ms was returned to you.

Shell out the bucks and make quick bucks yourself, is the overall message.

The Netzone is for everyone. It takes all kinds to make the Netzone work. Even those who might not measure up to your standards, have a place in this Cloud.

Now that my manuscript is protected with my publisher, Contract signed and delivered, I don’t mind sharing a few lessons I learned myself, the hard way.

If you want to use the services of an editor, before you have sent your manuscript to your publisher, you need to watch these steps:

(a)    First and foremost, definitely prefer to go with someone you know, personally, or is recommended by a friend, whom you know well, not only on Social Media.

(b)   Second, the editor is from my city

(c)    Visit them, meet them and talk to them, not only on phone. FB Friends, LinkedIn, Twitter, it’s virtual, not real friends, so you need to watch out.

(d)   Insist on Invoice made out on Company Letterhead.

(e)   In case the editor is out of city and has sent an Invoice in a personal name, address is a must and the address has to be verified by someone living in that city, where the editor is.

(f)     Insist on bills. Pay only to Company account.

(g)    Pay only by Cheque

(h)   Accept no excuse for delay in your manuscript; they won’t accept delay in your payment either.

(i)      Insist on final payments only after you have received your final manuscript, AND, you are satisfied with their work.

(j)     Preserve all documents related to the interaction between you as an author and the editor. Email, is a legal document.

Hope this helps my friends in India, and the world, all of whom have a story to tell.

We need to watch over our work, before it sees the light of day. The Government is NOT the best nanny in this case, we can depend upon always. Nor is the nanny on FB, in wolves clothing.

Good luck!

Links and references:

The Hindu, June 21, 2013, India’s surveillance project may be as lethal as PRISM  by Shalini Singh
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indias-surveillance-project-may-be-as-lethal-as-prism/article4834619.ece

Just read: 8 Gmail Hacks That Will Change The Way You Use Email

http://www.buzzfeed.com/danoshinsky/8-gmail-hacks-that-will-change-the-way-you-use-email
Just released news: FB makes the start of verified pages for celebrities; the rest will follow soon: http://newsroom.fb.com/News/619/Verified-Pages-and-Profiles

The literature of the elite

Sunil Gangopadhyay

“The literature that is being created in our country through the medium of the printing press, is still primarily the literature of the elite. We have a country where only an average of 60% of the population is moderately educated. It is fair to assume that no more than 15 – 20% read literature. We have, therefore, a literature for which 80 – 85% of the country’s population is totally absent. Should this literature not be considered utterly unreal?” – Sunil Gangopadhyay in a memorable speech delivered at the 2010 Sahitya Akademi Award Presentation Ceremony in New Delhi.

Taking it from there, he went on to cite the example of a poor boy and his father who came to his house regularly to beg by singing songs. In fact, they came so often and sang songs, three in all, that Sunil Gangopadhyay too had learnt the lines by listening to them. On enquiry, it was found that the songs had been taught to the father by his Guru and later he taught the son the songs. Gangopadhyay had even learnt of the name of this guru from them, but had not heard of this guru, or a poet, writer by this name. He did not ask of course, if his guru was a beggar too.

Strangely, one of the songs even crept into the movies but of course the credit of the lyrics went to the composer and not the original poet/guru who had composed it.

Hundreds and thousands of poets have concealed their identity and not made much ado about their creations he went on to say, perhaps because they were too modest to “show” off their lines. Besides, only after the printing press came into being, words could find a name attached to the person who had created those lines. Many poets took advantage of this, many did not. Therefore, there is and was a huge base of the unsung poets who did not care to be out in print and that does not feature in what is called literature of today.

Going on to speak of Jean Paul Satre denouncement of Saint Jean Genet, whose writing of his Autobiography from the prison gave him a place in French Literature, Gangopadhyay, cites an example of the elite rejection of literature that does not meet their pre-decided criteria, as Genet was an anti-social, a lout but he wrote in an act of self-expression, a book which he himself hardly believed would create such a revolution in French literature. The right to self-expression is universal. In countries like India, where poverty may be one of the most critical reason why literature of those who are not publishing through the printing press are shaded out, we have a bigger monster here called the caste system, which adds insult to injury, by preempting that literature of the upper caste may prevail over let us say the Dalits whose voices are unheard, except for a few like Dilip Chitre. There may be a wealth of literature under the poverty line and on the other side of the LoD ( line of  discrimination) based on caste.

This has then given rise to religious groups which consist mainly of the downtrodden. In Bengal Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement which has grown to a humongous size now, called Hare Rama, Hare Krishna movement was essentially a movement of the poor and impoverished, although Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu belonged to a high Brahmin caste. He became a Master of the deprived, because he did not believe in the caste system. He drew to himself a huge crowd of people, hungry for a let up from their condition, by embracing a movement that gave them equal status, in the love of the Divine Krishna.

Gangopadhyay went on to say that from time to time some writers do write about the impoverished peasants and working class, and the uneducated. Yet, we are still very far from reflecting the true colour of these neglected segments of our society and although their lives are rich with poetry and music, only a fraction reaches us, the elite readers and writers of literature.

However, whatever may be the case, Gangopadhyay, had ended his remarkable speech with the observation that Radio, TV had reached every corner of the country and the resurgence of Dalit literature was heartwarming, because, this indicated that the times, they are a changing.

( Abstract taken from The Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi’s Bi-monthly Journal, March/April 2011  issue, pgs – 21-27)


A few of my points:

The recent uprising of Literature Festivals reiterates the fact that Literature is for the elite, the educated, widely travelled and ready to flaunt their work, at the same time, it has been instrumental in creating more awareness and accessibility of the wider audience to the authors as well. 

The literature of those who chose not to make much ado about their work and not chase publishers has still not been tapped. They will go without recognition, or the pleasure of our eyes ever going through their thoughts.

Many, who have made it to feminist literature, will continue to disown, literature by women who also chose to keep a low profile. Indeed, they will not be called India’s Women, who created a stir in other people’s heart, when they sang or wrote out of their own. They will continue to be considered not among those, approved by a select society of feminists, who are in the same category as the elite who see their works printed and who attend Literary Festivals. I say this with profound sadness when a well-known person from one of Bengal’s well known literary families said about my mother, who indeed, had been too shy to publish and yet, magazines like Desh, published her work called Janini,  which brought stalwarts like Bhibutibhushan Bondhopadhyay to our door in search of this writer, who was my mother,  - “But we don’t consider your mother, excuse me for saying it, one among the woman’s voices in Bengal. If that was the case, there are hundreds and thousands of such voices in Bengal.”


RIP Sunil da: http://news.oneindia.in/2012/10/23/bengali-novelist-sunil-gangopadhyay-passes-away-obit-1087916.html

Orbituary: The Hindu, 24 October, 2012: http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-man-who-carried-the-modern-consciousness-of-bengal/article4026398.ece