While it is true that we have not sought publicity to our website and our maintaining a low profile is by choice, I am sometimes saddened by the fact that the Indian media hasn't covered our website at all. IMO the making of this website is a great story -- a man without money (or vehicle or computer or powerful friends) in India building the Web's largest personal website. Other than a brief mention in Rediff.com and another in IndiaInfo.com, we have gotten no publicity within India. Whereas everybody has been eager to copy and use our contents. My mother told me one editor even argued with her in a forum of media people that downloading web content and publishing in Indian newspapers was OK and that copyright laws did not apply to web content!
I write this because the biggest names in Indian media are guilty of plagiarizing content from website, and yet are not honest enough to acknowledge the source or do a story on us.
But last week, I got unexpected and surprising encouragement from two individuals from India, who opened my eyes to the greater horizon I should be looking at.
The first is a letter I received from a professor at a University. He wrote "...It is true that our nation did not honor Kamat; our system is so rotten that we refuse to learn from the wisdom of such great men... but there were significant number of people, people like myself-- who have found inspiration in Kamat's work, in his exemplary life and his uncomplaining determination to serve India.... It is them that your father catered. Your father might not have had powerful friends, but he indeed had thousands of admirers of the most common kind... You must not lose heart, and must continue your efforts, regardless of what people might say, or might not say."
That is very well said. How can I forget this? Our website might not get awards or publicity. But I must cater to the million and a half people every month who come to Kamat.com looking for one thing or another!!
Secondly, a fellow blogger, and technology journalist Mahesh Shantaram recognized me for the contributions of this website. "Vikas and Kamat are doing their bit to tilt the balance in India's favor." Nice!
Publicity from Western Media
Surprisingly, we've built our readership based on the publicity provided by western media. The BBC and TechTV provided the early exposure and links from such sites as Wired and Google provide much of our referrals today. Many Universities (list - notice that all are in the Western hemisphere) use our contents in their curriculum. Our site is used by students to study not only India, but also web navigation, art, photography, and get this -- the English language!
BTW, Austrian radio in Vienna interviewed my mother this morning. I am told that it will be broadcasted at lunch hour (local time) on Friday.
