"Mine's up"

bangalore: the next time an artist, fashion guru, writer, filmmaker or bizwiz nursing a margarita at a swanky bar says "mine's up", don't turn red or look askance. chances are they are referring to their personal websites. in this net-friendly city, where grandmas spend hours in chat rooms and children do their homework via www, the achievers and wannabes are only too happy to showcase themselves on the internet.it's somewhat like having a photo feature in the newspapers or a book written about you. but far smarter, slicker and longer lasting. it may seem like no more than an ego trip, but the reasons for setting up personal websites vary. anita nair, the writer, had hers launched a few months ago. "i was approached by this young web design team from showcase-me.com," she says. "and it seemed like a good idea, mainly because i've found that whenever a book of mine is released the requests for interviews pile up and almost everyone asks the same questions. it seemed like a sensible thing to do, to have all the answers in one place and direct people there," she says. www.anitanair.net contains details of her books, recent interviews and answers to faqs. everything you wanted to know about the musician amit heri is available on www.amitheri.com. "a friend of mine suggested it and i thought, why not?" says amit. but he wants to include more of his music on the site. "the only problem is that the web designer is in delhi, so my site doesn't get updated as often as it should," he says. "perhaps i should learn how to do it myself." dr rajkumar, probably bangalore's most famous film personality, is showcased at www.raj-kumar.com with content available in both english and kannada. all the usual details, profile, films and favourites, are there. plus you can join the raj kumar fan club via this site and also write to the evergreen matinee idol. kannada filmmaker nagathihalli chandrashekar is another artiste who has taken the trouble to launch his personal website. log on to www.nagathihalli.com for details of all chandru's creative work, writing and directorial efforts. unusually, there's also a section titled "vagabond" which describes his travel experience. updating seems to be a little slow here, too, for there's a banner announcing the imminent release of nanna preetiya hudugi which hit the screens quite sometime ago. cricketers are known to keep their fans happy through personal websites. rahul dravid is available via go4cricket.com and says it's for everyone who wants to know more about him. he promises to respond to fan mail and chat with fans from time to time as well. the tech-savvy kumble spins his stuff on www.kumble.com which also peddles kumble memorabilia.