My previous post on FIP brought in some debate – some in the comments section, and some on my GTalk. Well, at that stage, I was just playing the Devil’s Advocate. I ended my last post saying I would bring out the negatives of having an FIP in the world. Over the last 3 weeks or so, I had put up a Google Blog Alert for the words “Fake IPL Player”, which gave me an alert when top bloggers wrote about FIP. I got loads of such alerts. And given that FIP chose to be a hypocrite this week by going back on his word, most recent blogs were anti FIP.

So I decided 2 things – I am not going to write an anti FIP post, as it would just be too clichéd. Instead, I think I would like to continue on why something like FIP is great for India.

If you think of the word information, the world has come a long way. From the times when we had to wait for letters, or go to an STD booth, to cell phones and emails, we have always been getting better information with time about the rest of the world. The world’s just getting more connected by the day. Information found a new way to flow at the time of the recent Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai on Nov 26^th 2008. Through Twitter many resourceful people could reach out to loads of followers to give firsthand information of how things were unfolding at that time. So is this like the highest end of information transfer in the world? Where you can get in touch with your friends through a micro blog like Twitter, where anyone with one of the latest mobile phones can tell his friends what he’s doing now?

Well, I think the answer is No. Not yet. We still don’t have enough Indians using online services to reach out to a larger crowd. As of today, if I want to find out a list of people who are ready to share a cab with me from the local station to my office at a timing suitable to me, I still can’t – because I don’t have that connectivity with them – though those people very much exist. If I want to find out what really happened at a political rally during any of the recent campaigning, I still can’t – because none of the citizens who actually witnessed it, write about it (Rediff did try to do that, in someway recently) As of now, we still rely on traditional media to get us the information we want. We yet don’t hear things from the horse’s mouth.

But FIP is one step closer to getting us there. Not just because he has something interesting to talk about. But because he used the online medium which people yet do not use effectively in India. He’s stirred a lot of people about the word blogging. There’s no doubt that expressing yourself online would be the way ahead – by political parties, by ministers, and by “Fake” people. You are just able to reach out to the long tail of the world so much more easily. In another recent online appearance, Church 2.0 is now the latest example where the Pope’s messages are now circulated online, through channels like Facebook.

Many people say the entire FIP episode would have been great if FIP had the guts to reveal his identity at the end. But I think otherwise. FIP himself is part of the system (where the system is the judgmental society reading his blog and making opinions about everyone around). Until he was an agent of information, and bold enough to say he would reveal himself, he was reasonably appreciated. And now he is getting the boot for going back on his words. It’s exactly like a Public Ltd Company, with readers as the investors. You do good – your value in the market increases. A hint of an issue with you – and your reputation tumbles down. Each person talked about, including FIP, got their due credit (and disrepute) each time from the public. Some people say FIP abused people out of frustration. However, I think everything was in perfect proportion. And it helped keep a check on everyone, as they knew they were being watched. Some people say he did not do good to Shah Rukh Khan. I say, he showed the world that a Chak De movie’s sports coach may not be the same in the real world! Some people would cry foul about proprietary information being leaked out many a time like this. I say – when the means are there to do something, it will anyway happen despite as much control that is brought in. Might as well make it legitimate, and focus it on improving things in the world.

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