It’s human nature to observe the world on a daily basis; some people do it consciously and some in their sub-conscious state. But what you do with the observations you make- do you share them or do you like to keep them to yourselves – like secret scribblers, like Samuel Pepys and Anne Frank ( 2 great diarists) ?

Though Pepys’ and Frank’s works were personal entries not meant for public audience, but Thank Heavens they were published and millions of people got a chance to peep into Charles II’s London through Pepys’ eyes or the life of a teenage Jewish girl who went into hiding for 2 years in the secret annex in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam; how trapped she must have felt during the hiding years sharing a small room with a dentist who was extremely difficult to deal with - she could not go out, she could not meet with friends, go to the beach, walk through the forests.

(img source – about.com) (img source- independent.com)

However, not many support the idea of diarists going the publishing way because they believe diarists are extremely private persons who if asked to share their private thoughts would inadvertently reply “Gee, that’s a tough task.” There have been many speculations on Anne Frank publishing her own diary if she had lived through the holocaust. I’d read an interview of the woman who hid Anne Frank and her family where she says “If she had lived through the Holocaust, the question is whether she would have published the diary herself. I think she would have done so, but I am not sure. In my opinion, one thing is certain: She would have combined her writing skills and her ability to observe, becoming a great journalist.”

I also feel that if Anne were alive after the Holocaust she would have surely gone the publishing way! Because “…Every writer since the printing press has longed for a means to publish himself and reach—instantly—any reader on Earth….” And every diarist is a writer + observer and wants to share the moments he/she’d penned down, but, not every diarist has the privilege of publishing houses accepting their stories. Well, it was over a decade ago!

Now fast forward to 2000 and later years- with blogger, wordpress, and other blog publishing tools not many have to bother about getting an approval stamp from the publishers. Though techies were the early adopters of blogs but now the popularity of blogs has spread beyond techies. An increasing number of people ( technically-adept as well as technically-challenged) are turning to blogging as it gives them a chance to reach out to a wide range of audience across the web with whom they can share many things, including the things that one can never think of disclosing it to their family or friends.

However, there’s a sect of people who believe blogging is no option for secret scribblers as the moment one hits the publish button the secrets are out. But I would like to differ with them here because the best or the worst part about the web – whatever way you want to describe it – is anonymity.

Yes, anonymous bloggers – I believe they are today’s secret scribblers, you will find umpteen number of them on the web. They may be whistleblowers fearing retaliation; employees who want their personal& professional lives different; artists who want their work to be judged without their bio-data attached to it or someone who wants to give a vent to their hidden emotions but can’t share them with family or friends or even someone who wants to fool people in a funny and crazy way. They all choose to keep a log of  their observations/feelings/ideas and share them on the web remaining anonymous. And in heart they all are diarists, who feel a compulsive desire to record what’s happening around them.

One of the talked-about anonymous blogs in the recent years was Belle de Jour. It was an eye-popping online record of a London call girl’s liaisons with her clients and her funny sometimes quirky observations on being a hooker.  The blog won a Guardian newspaper award; later the blog became a book and a TV series. Though there were lots of efforts put in to bust her, but the blogger successfully managed to remain anonymous, but, later she disclosed her identity as Dr Brooke Magnanti, a research scientist who during her final stages of PhD thesis, ran out of money and turned to prostitution. In an interview with The Guardian after she revealed her true identity she told – “What I write about is something every depiction of prostitution in this country in recent years has not been permitted to say.”

In India, the anonymous blogging came into the media limelight with the popularity of fakeiplplayer which turned out to be the biggest hoax in Indian cricket. Started during the second season of IPL, the blog took potshots at everyone – from IPL, Lalit Modi,  cricketers to the teams participating , particularly Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) which led many to believe that the anonymous blogger was either Shahrukh Khan(the owner of KKR) or Saurav Ganguly ( the then captain of KKR). In a country where cricket is treated like religion, the blog, which was a beguiling mix of bold, fierce and funny voices, got millions of Indian cricket fans hooked to it. After a year the blogger revealed himself - and thank God he was not Shahrukh, not Saurav, not a sports journo but someone named Anupam Mukherji, a cricket-crazy marketing guy. The blog won him a book deal with HarperCollins. In an interview with Times Now he said the blog was ‘a figment of imagination’ and was an inspiration from a fake blog on Steve Jobs.

A blog may not replace a diary that you could keep under your pillow but the question here is – would you like a locked diary or choose blogging where you can publish your emotions, share them with an audience ( after all everyone wants to be heard) and yet remain anonymous. And who would complain if his/her under-the-mask blog gets 150,000 unique hits a day, and if Lady Luck smiles then who knows, may be even a book deal? The more the merrier seems to describe the situation aptly! What do you say?