I am closing the poll on the most favorite blog topic, and also declaring the results right away. No hanging chads here. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone voted in elections too electronically? No long queues at polling stations, no hunting around for parking spaces (if the polling center is far), no rigging, no waiting days (and sometimes months) for the results..
On the other hand, if everyone votes online, what will all those psephologists do? There will be no more exit polls, no more incessant reporting on television of which politician is leading in which election.. The results will be out in seconds, and where’s the fun in that?
I remember, long ago, after some general election, walking to Kasturba Gandhi Road in Connaught Place every evening and staring at the giant scoreboard outside the Hindustan Times building to see which party had secured more seats in the latest round of counting. There would be a crowd gathered around, all loudly discussing the prospects of each party and its prominent candidates and speculating on what would happen if the Congress/BJP/ Coalition came to power. There would be lots of juicy gossip about candidates exchanged. I would stand there, ostensibly looking at the scoreboard while eavesdropping on everything. That was fun.
But I digress. So here are the results you are all waiting for:
The question was: “What topics in my blog do you like most?”
The clear winner was “Whacky and Humorous.”
“Digs at desis” came a close second. Not a photo finish, but it deserves our respect for a strong performance 
And finally, “Humorous take on news” took the bronze.
But this last category was a hot favorite with certain readers. So much so, that those readers enthusiastically voted for this every time they visited my blog Reiterating again and again how much they love this genre! I hear you guys, there will be more posts of this kind 
Meanwhile, I do have a request to make to all of you – if you find any whacky news report, can you send it to me so it gives me a story idea? Thanks!
Sujatha
shyam
Anonymous
John Rennie
Not many can laugh at their own stereotypes. But the best humor is always the digs you take on yourself. A lot of standup desi/videsi is self-effacing humor on one’s community/personal life.
That explains why many voted for whacky and humorous. I still stick to my views for I always can relate to digs I make on desis and tambrams in particular.
But then it depends on the niche and reader outreach. We as bloggers start of penning our own thoughts, rants and ramblings. As our reader base increases and the hits go past 1000 a month, things change. We tend to reach out to them and write things that they may like. It still is the same you but you no longer rant or ramble the same. Your reader wants a post from you every week, and so your outlook changes. Every incident or billboard you look at might seem bloggable. We become like standup artists who keep their eyes and ears open for situations and characters.
Slowly we blog not for ourselves, but because our readers demand it. You may want to write about the naxal attacks, but then we conform to taking potshots at new items! But then its a good way to ask your readers to feed you leads. I’ll send a few across on twitter as well..
ps: shit I guess i ought to make a post out of it! sorry for hijackin your comment space…
Lekhni:
“..hot favorite with certain readers..”
Oops! You caught me
Hand in the cookie jar and all…
See this: http://diepresse.com/home/panorama/oesterreich/400529/index.do
My blogger friend, Kalafudra, in Austria wrote about the gallows humour in this awful story today. This is the kind of stuff I would happily send you.
Lekhni, I came across your blog only very recently and though I haven’t explored much, my vote would be for the whacky and humorous too!
maxdavinci: This is so true. You do start thinking about your “readers” real or imaginary and what they would expect from you. Not posting for a while or not responding to comments invokes strong feelings of guilt. And yeah, news articles suddenly get classified as “bloggable”
Thanks for that comment – and you’re welcome to write long comments. I do it all the time
But you should also write an even longer blog post on this – unless you think this is too serious for your blog?
Shefaly: Your votes made my day, I assure you. I was laughing quite hard when I saw your votes
Gallows humor is quite fine too, anyway my sense of humor tends towards satire and irony..
SRA: Whacky and humorous it is, then! Thanks for adding your vote in
yay…the candidate I voted for won !!!
Hey I missed the voting but the candidate I would have chosen is anyway the winner, so that’s a comfort
No wonder, readers love humorous and hilarious stuffs which make them laugh than anything else
snippetsnscribbles: I’m amazed at the popularity of Mr. Whacky and Humorous
Indian Homemaker: That’s fine, you can still use the comments section on this post to vote
Your candidate was Mr. Whacky too ?
Manasa: That’s the idea – to make people laugh
I am glad it is working! Well, so far at least!
Lekhni, I’m not so sure that e-voting is immune to rigging. Didn’t the US Congress pass a law that mandates paper trail for all (federal?) elections, to be in place by 2012? There’s just not enough transparency in the current e-voting system to ensure a fair election. Yes, paper voting is also open to fraud, but I’m not convinced that e-voting will make it any better. “Trust but verify” should be the mantra.
As for psephologists, they can get their information from (what else?) an online opinion poll that voters will take right after clicking a button to submit their e-vote.
Amit: I agree with you on the need for a paper trail and auditing of the voting process. Those Diebold machines can sometimes be diabolical
The online opinion poll is a great idea