Thank you very much for your message.

=>”This has to be the longest goodbye outside Wagner,”

No, I think that honour goes to the final parts of the Mahabharata, although my current attempts at signing-off PP probably come a close second.

=>”could that be because you know you don’t really want to bail on us?”

Partially, although for various reasons I’ve been considering it for some time. Perhaps a more accurate description of my current exit would be a “sabbatical” from PP; I may or may not be back at some point in the future, depending on my own views at the time and what the general vibe is like here on PP.

=>”that is as much due to your gravitas,”

Thank you for the compliment, although I take it you’re unfamiliar with my frequent sub-Kismet Hardy raciness over on Sepia Mutiny

=>”And if people sometimes accuse you of being sanctimonious and judgemental, give the bastards hell. In measured and polite terms.”

Thanks, man. Calmly standing one’s ground and surgically-deconstructing the other party’s position is always the best way to go about things.

I do greatly appreciate the sentiment of your message to me. As always, you are a gentleman, a truly decent, civilised and compassionate person. I have also always regarded you as someone who has “got” the message behind my various posts here — we seem to be on the same wavelength in some respects.

Anyway, as a final message to the PP crowd: “Keep a cool head and a warm heart”. It’s a good philosophy to live by.

I also hope all your friends and relatives in Mumbai/Bombay are safe and sound.

I can be located over on Sepia Mutiny if anyone ever feels like dropping by to say hello. Take care, everyone.

As for being reasonable – well that’ll have to change.

Question is have we got Amir or not?

“And if people sometimes accuse you of being sanctimonious and judgemental, give the bastards hell. In measured and polite terms.”

Eaaaasy, brother!!

I do disagree with you here: just because somebody is “comparatively young” doesn’t mean we should “cut him some slack”. If we are in our 20’s and a person in like 8, ok, I understand. If the person is late teens, early 20’s, than no. Sorry, this is what I think. Sure, people have opinionated views, especially so when young. But it doesn’t mean you can behave any way you want.

I still don’t get how one can defend certain kinds of comments, but hold Sunny responsible for his behavior. When somebody is provocative, posting comments “Sunny Hundal this” and “Sunny Hundal that” and insinuating things and PUTTING WORDS INTO PEOPLE’S MOUTHS, the targeted person can get upset and has a right to. And as Justforfun points out, those who have blogs themselves may get a bit more upset and sensitive than others. Since I myself have a blog, I do not appreciate people saying things that I never said. I am careful and I have personal rules that I never violate, ie 1) if I disagree with someone I never say “obviously you don’t know shit, you haven’t read anything, you don’t have any experiences” because I do not personally know the person, thus cannot permit myself to say such a thing and 2) I try my best to direct my criticisms at the comments themselves, rather than attacking the person. Despite this, if someone is still going to insist asserting certain things, I can see myself getting very upset.

To me, there is a 2-way pact. Both bloggers and commentators have a responsibility. I’ve already referred to this in my earlier posts here.

Bloggers do not get paid for what they do. They post blogs for various reasons, ie want to have a free space to voice their opinions, generate discussion, bring to light something, hope to provide interesting insights and etc. But they do it– for the fear of sounding cheesy– out of love. It takes time to research, put together a coherent piece, and so on. And they post knowing full well that somebody might disagree with them, might challenge them. This takes skin. Posting a blog is different from posting a comment. I really do think that commentators should keep this in mind when they start lashing out and being outright rude to bloggers.

This has to be the longest goodbye outside Wagner, could that be because you know you don’t really want to bail on us?

There is not a single regular on this blog who wouldn’t feel the loss. In less than a year PP has developed into something important (if something as ephemeral as a blog can ever be that) and that is as much due to your gravitas, Sid’s truculence, Vik’s youthful intemperance, Kismet’s incurable depravity, Bikhair’s intermittent bonkersness and the irresistable charms of Mirax and Katy, as it is to Sunny’s passion and ego. Plus all the other regulars and visitors. (Except Al Hack and Jamal, who are a waste of space).

And if people sometimes accuse you of being sanctimonious and judgemental, give the bastards hell. In measured and polite terms.

Don’t you fucking dare run out on us, you bastard.

Yaar, I’ve got no beef with you– I hope you know that I was only directing my criticism towards the comments posted here regarding this topic. I know I am repeating this, but still, I would like you to know that I wasn’t attacking you in totality; I do enjoy reading your comments (well, the ones I agree with, to be honest .

And I also re-read my post, and I felt bad for having been so caustic, like “Your posts are condescending, patronizing…etc”. That was unnecessary. I could have said it another way.

Anyway, take care .

Thank you once again for your kind words, quite touching actually.

With regards to SM, the bottom line — at least in my opinion — is that their recent negative reaction to you is basically less to do with “what you said” and more a matter of “how you said it”. I expect the main objection on their part was to a “new” participant who immediately started swearing at other commenters she disagreed with. It really may be something as simple as that, irrespective of whatever other objections the SM moderators may have subsequently raised. In all honesty, following that with insulting the SM guys and making disparaging comments about their discussion forum as a whole probably didn’t help matters either, in terms of the possibility of achieving a reconciliation or some kind of positive resolution to the original argument.

They do normally allow all kinds of conflicting (and controversial) opinions there — the blog has had a number of extremely heated arguments on various topics, a couple of which I’ve ended up being a participant of too — and they’re fine with such opinions and statements as long as it doesn’t involve expletive-loaded personal attacks or grossly racist views. They actually don’t ban people easily, despite the opinion you have may got here.

So, again, it’s not necessarily the fact that you’re “arguing” per se which is the issue (regardless of whether the other party is Anna, Abhi, Amardeep etc), but the way in which you are arguing. If those people would ideally like an apology, I suspect it is because of the profanity and subsequent personal insults, rather than the actual substance of your original arguments (even if they disagreed with the latter).

Anyway, I would like to thank you again for your compliments. For my part, I also think that you make many genuinely brilliant points, and (silly misunderstandings with SM notwithstanding) you are very fair-minded too.

Best of luck with your continuing participation on PP, and I’m sure you’ll be a valued commenter here as you always have been.

Me and SM, well I was never there much and it just isn’t me. Never really was. As for their admin, forget self-righteous wrath or self-pity on my part. This isn’t about that. I persist with a particular argument – even if it makes me really unpopular with the Annas and Abhis of this world- because my quaint principles demand it of me.I am quite capable of dropping it or apologising bigtime when I get satisfactory answers.

Cheers anyway.

Ah, still going with the cheap and sly digs eh but not man enough to come out with it and brave a rebuttal. I am disappointed Sid, would have expected more of you once upon a time.

Geddit?

I thought that one up all by myself

And I like the thought of him being a softy, really.

I’m no Pete Doherty. I keep my habit private

I like to dress as a nun