I protest

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. Noam Chomsky

Warning: I am a terrorist.

It may seem I am a harmless housewife whiling her hours away writing online but this is actually a way to pass coded messages and recruit converts to my cause. Each post is a message to my brethren, to coordinate an attack on another metropolis and wreak havoc.

When I hold forth about Scrabble or cryptic crosswords and give examples, they are cleverly disguised messages to my comrades about where to pick up that RDX. When I write a poem of longing and loneliness, it's actually my swan song before I go off to be a suicide bomber.

Blast, the government is on to my clever ploy now.

When Desipundit and gilli linked to bloggers reporting that the domain blogspot.com was being blocked by some Internet Service Providers, on government directives, I was disturbed. Are we still in India, I wondered?

When the reports escalated that several ISPs had blocked what is a hugely popular blogging service and were denying access to blogspot blogs, but I could still access them, I thought that perhaps my own ISP was ignoring the government orders and rejoiced.

Whatever our shortcomings as a democracy, whatever the ineptitude of our services and government, we always had the right to discuss them at least, I thought.

This afternoon I found that I couldn't access blogspot blogs either.

There is a way, via http://www.pkblogs.com But why should I have to do that? How can Government of India decide for me what I can read online and what I can't? This block is taking away what is enshrined in our constitution, my right to free speech, and my right to information.

I protest. Let's think a little on what Voltaire said: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Cheers!