Cultural Volume 3 : Call for Contributions

Kamala Anupindi (kamala@top.cis.syr.edu)
Wed, 18 Sep 1996 16:04:06 -0400 (EDT)


				Yes, we mean it!!

		 CULTURAL VOLUME -3: CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS !!! 

     Hello All!

       We are a bunch of net.culture.enthusiasts who would like to
       keep alive a fine tradition initiated by Dr C.P.Ravikumar,
       that of collating and editing a "SCI Cultural Volume". Dr C.P.R
       coaxed and cajoled our very own net.writers, both closet
       and confirmed, into contributing some very good literary
       and cultural articles for the first two Cultural Volumes,
       and we humbly attempt to do the same for "Cul Vol 3". So,
       friends, heed this call, let your creative talents loose,
       and help show the world what we've got!

     Looking forward to hearing from you. Please send e-mail to
     culvol@top.syr.edu. More information about cultural volumes
     can be found at http://www.cis.syr.edu/~kamala/culvol.html

Ramesh Mahadevan (Mahadevan_Ramesh@maxtor.com) wrote the following
for this volume:

It is my pleasure to be writing to you on behalf of an ad hoc (and highly 
arbitrary !) committee of volunteers hell bent on compiling yet another 
volume of S.C.I+s Cultural Digest. Old timers may recall that there 
already exists a couple of such Cultural Digests, put together by the 
folks of Soc.Culture.Indian in the years past - actually, largely due to 
efforts of ex-SCIers like Prof C.P. Ravikumar. 

Why do we want to do this again ? Let me see if I can explain it. We are 
all a part of a virtual NRI internet society, webbed together by the 
various newsgroups like the soc.culture.somethings and the myriad 
web-sites. We are all components of a community which posts, reads, 
fights, and even makes up on the bboards. Although we get excited by 
various current issues, social debates, literary outputs etc., there is 
something very commonly Indian among all of us in spite of our varied 
backgrounds and degrees of expatriacity. (I just made up this word !) Once 
in a while, we do feel like reflecting on life and it is this reflection 
we, the bunch of self-appointed editors, want to capture and immortalize 
in the Third Volume of Cultural Digest.  Yes, we have this incredible urge 
to have a Super Bowl (or Olympics if you will) of our own writing. Once 
compiled, we would like to place this Cultural Volume on an internet site 
eventually and also post it on the Soc.Culture.Indian.

So we would like to solicit articles, stories, essays, poems, jokes, 
haikus, oneliners - just about anything from all of you. We invite 
everyone, right from the regular writers on the bboards and the silent 
readers to the occasional visitors to the bboard-land. If you have a 
friend who is  a talented writer, please prevail on him or her. We know 
that there is a tremendous amount of talent lying out there. Although we 
don+t have the time or energy to approach people individually, please 
treat this as a personal invitation and start working on your pieces !

While we don+t have strict editorial policies (heck, we don+t even have a 
Spell-check program) it will be nice if the following guidelines are 
followed:

(1) The Cultural Volume is not meant to be +topical+, dwelling on current 
events. So make sure your articles are still readable, say a year down the 
road. 

(2) You be your own editor first. Is it interesting ? Is it politically 
correct ? Does it offer fresh insights ? Does it have a kind of universal 
appeal ? Is it of the appropriate length ?

(3) If you are a regular poster on the bboard and especially if you think 
you are misunderstood, this is a good chance to reveal an entirely 
different side of you. If you had been clowning around on the bboard, 
write a serious piece. If you have been the obnoxious fighter on the 
bboard, maybe you can charm the public with a different kind of prose.

(4) Please stick to deadlines. We are all busy with our usual jobs. So 
please ensure that the volunteers who are putting this together don+t have 
to go through extra troubles.

(5) If you would like to volunteer your time, please let us know. 
(Everything will be done via email)

(6) All articles should be in English although words from Indian languages 
can be used for effect, in which case, make sure that it doesn+t impair 
the reader+s ability to comprehend.

(7) In view of the large number of articles expected (presumably !) please 
limit your contribution to just one article. 

Ramesh Mahadevan

Come on now, pound away on that keyboard !
All contributions should be mailed to culvol@top.syr.edu.
Previous volumes and more information can be found at

http://www.cis.syr.edu/~kamala/culvol.html

thanks
Kamala Anupindi
[18th September 1996]
kamala@top.syr.edu

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