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Re: Re: Accusations



wow, it must feel good to vent all that out.

look, it's a law of nature that ' all good will be attacked '.
and to think that is not true is naive. that's just the way
it is.

so just grin and bear it my friend. it will pass.

- ruchir

From: Atul Chitnis <achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: linux-india-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: Linux India General <linux-india-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [LIG] Re: Accusations
Raju:

On Mon, 5 Feb 2001, Raju Mathur wrote:

> 1. The Linux movement (in India or anywhere) cannot be hijacked by any
> company or individual.

That's a foregone conclusion, and is actually one of the things I set out
to prove.

> 2. Atul is doing a lot for Linux in India.  So is Suresh.  So am I.
> So are about 2000 other people.

The issue is not about who has done what *for* Linux. This is about
accusations of having done things *against* Linux (or Linux-India).

Accusations like these (about me) have been rampant for a long time. They
are essentially built on the premise that no one would spend that much
time/money/effort/blood/etc. on something (like Linux) without having an
axe to grind.

In this case, the accusations come from someone who has not offered even
one piece of evidence in favour of his argument. Dragging personal mail
into public does not constitute evidence/proof.

Ask yourself *why* I am "exposing" myself this way. Why am I almost
*begging* my accusers (so far only two) to prove their accusations with
evidence?

It is because I am tired of this sick campaign. I am being hounded out of
the Linux community because of personal differences that two people have
with me. And this campaign is affecting my ability to do what I have been
doing (along with you and so many others) for more than half a decade.

My accusers have always relied on "secret rumours" and talking behind my
back. They have created an environment of mistrust in anyone who goes
beyond posting something other than "to get X running on an i810, do
this..." and "add noauth to /etc/ppp/options".

What I am requesting now is a fair trial - not just for me, but for anyone
else who would find himself in this unfortunate position.

So far, neither Rag00 nor Suresh have offered even one shred of evidence.
They just keep heaping up accusations - the latest one being "Atul is
trying to build a personality cult around himself".

I reject this accusation as well.

People tend to know me or of me because of my past PC Quest work (I have
not done any in more than 6 months, BTW)  and earlier BBS work. None of
this work since 1992 was ever done to create a "cult".

I write aimed at intelligent, technically savvy people, people who can
think for themselves. I have never had anyone throw their underwear at me
(quote liberally lifted from Linus' CNN interview ;-), and I am not
stopped on the road for autographs.

My attempts at killing the political angle to Linux in India is being
liberally repositioned by my accusers as *attempts* to politicise it.

I am not interested in politics. I would like to be part of the Linux
commmunity, help and be helped.

Is that so wrong?

Why can the Linux community of India (or rather, those few people who are
creating this uncomfortable situation) not accept that just because a man
has an opinion, and is possibly more outspoken than others, he does not
automatically become the Borg or Emperor Gates?

In 1999, we had a beautiful experience at IT.COM. In 2000, we were so
destroyed by internal strife and politics that I frankly felt that IT.COM
2000 for a total flop for the community.

For both events, I and my friends were the "pushers", but none of us would
have achieved anything without the active participation by LUG members
from all over India.

According to me, IT.COM 2000 was a failure because no few LUGs
participated this time, and it was clear to everyone that the success of
1999 would probably not come again, because the feeling was gone.

It was great seeing young guys at IT.COM 99 stand up for themselves and
help widen people's technological horizons, and become the evangelists
that people like Kishore, Gopi, Raju, Hash, Udhay, JCK and me used to be
in the bad old days of "Tax the BBSs".

But the success of IT.COM 99 was probably what feeds the flames today.

Some people (you know who you are) felt that my involvement in the event
was clear proof that I was trying to manipulate the Linux movement in
India for my own nefarious purposes (an accusation I continue to reject as
a blatant lie).

Then came BangLinux - same scenario. No stall for LI, so Gopi and I
leveraged our own positions (as speakers) to get LI one. Further proof
(according to some) that we were plotting LI domination.

We were paid speaker fees for that event. We offered the money to KD (in
the 60 seater auditorium, two days before the show) to be used for LI, but
he correctly pointed out that LI was not a legal entity and could not
accept money. So we promptly spent the money on the event itself.

This (the fact that we were paid speaker fees) was promptly used as
further evidence against me and my fellow "plotters".

Our Linux work with PC Quest has been highly appreciated by readers all
over India. We were glad to have been part of the wave, and helped it
along.

But our detractors used this as further evidence against us (and me in
particular) by positioning it as a plot to make RedHat the dominant Linux
distro in India, and that we were using Linux to popularise PCQ (sell more
copies).

This was becoming ridiculous - everytime we did something for the Linux
Community, we were accused of wrongdoing.

And then, of course, there are the Suresh Ramasubramaniams who fling wild
accusations at me without a shred evidence and only out of personal (and
admitted) spite.

I am tired of this (am I repeating myself?). This is something where no
one wins - the Indian Crab syndrome at work (one dares to show oneself,
the others will drag him down). Unity be dammned - "get that half-German
bastard" - by any means, fair or (mostly) foul.

Leave me alone, Suresh and Rag00. Leave my friends alone. We too have a
right to be part of this community. Linux means a lot to us - personally,
professionally, philosophically.

If you have any proof of your allegations, present them. Make your
allegations themselves clear. Or shut up.

And stop using your personal differences with my way of doing things as
"evidence" of my wrongdoing. Stop dragging LI into your personal
power-struggles.

Leave me alone.

Atul

p.s. I should apologise to everyone on LIG for this long post, but on the
other hand, I think I need not. This is about Linux, and this is a general
list, meant for non-technical discussions.

--
----------------------------------------------------------
Atul Chitnis       | achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx (PGP:6011BCB8)
Exocore Consulting | http://www.exocore.com
Bangalore, India   | +91 (80) 3440397 Fax +91 (80) 3341137
----------------------------------------------------------


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