Null Pointer: English Blog
Null Pointer (nullpointer.debashish.com) is Debashish's English blog that begun in October 2002, covering technology, internet culture, blogging, politics, and life in India. Originally hosted on JRoller, it is possibly one of India's earliest personal technology blogs.
Null Pointer is my English blog, begun in October 2002, making it one of India’s earliest personal technology blogs. The name comes from a classic Java exception (NullPointerException), a nod to the blog’s original sole focus on Java programming. Over time, as the blog’s author evolved from developer to program manager to digital pioneer, so did Null Pointer — expanding into internet culture, Indic blogging, current affairs, politics, and life around us.
The blog’s subtitle captures its spirit: like an archer aiming at a dartboard, the intention is always to write pointedly, whether the arrow lands is for the reader to decide.
A Blog With Many Lives
Null Pointer has lived on multiple platforms across its two-decade history — a journey that itself documents the evolution of the blogging ecosystem in India:
Timeline of platforms:
- April 2003 — Launched on Rediff Blogs — one of India’s earliest blog hosting services and the blog’s original home
- July 2003 — Migrated to JRoller — a Java-focused blogging platform where Null Pointer found its technical community and identity
- 2006–present — Moved to self-hosted WordPress — where Debashish documented the migration process, and the blog has lived ever since.
Before all of this, the author’s web presence traces back even further — to the Geocities era, including a fan site dedicated to Amitabh Bachchan at geocities.ws/thisisamitabh.
Topics & Sections
Null Pointer covers a deliberately broad range — reflecting the author’s evolution from Java developer to digital content pioneer to TPM:
- Technology — Java, open source, tools, browser wars, and platform reviews
- Zindagi Online — internet culture, social media, and life lived digitally
- Blogism — reflections on blogging, the Indian blogosphere, and Indic content
- Agile Chronicles — program management, Scrum, leadership, and career
- Entertainment — Indian cinema, television nostalgia
- Politics & Life Around — current affairs, social issues, urban India
- Interviews — technology leaders, entrepreneurs, and digital pioneers
Bhasha India — On Indic Blogging (2007)
I was interviewed by Microsoft’s Bhasha India, an organisation working on Indian language internet tools, on the state of Indic blogging and the story of the Indibloggies. A rare instance of the blogger becoming the subject.
Read the archived Article →
| Hindi version (translated by late Ravishankar Shrivastava) →
Beyond Blogging: A Catalogue of Firsts
What makes Null Pointer unusual as a blog is that it is also a window into a wider set of pioneering digital initiatives, many of which are documented here or grew out of conversations on this blog:
DMOZ Editor
Debashish served as an editor at DMOZ, the Open Directory Project, at the time the most authoritative human-curated web directory in the world, powering search results for Google and others. Being a DMOZ editor was a mark of significant credibility in the early internet era. DMOZ snapshot website is available at https://www.odp.org.
Sarvagya: Hindi Internet Usage Wiki
Debashish was instrumental in creating Sarvagya, a wiki established by Pankaj Narula based on MediaWiki OSS, providing primers and advanced tips for using Hindi and other Indic languages (Unicode) on the internet. One of the earliest such community generated resources for vernacular internet users in India.
Chitthakar: Mailing List for Hindi Bloggers
Debashish moderated Chitthakar, a Google Groups mailing list for Hindi bloggers that grew to over 800 subscribers, serving as the primary community hub for the Hindi blogosphere in its early years.
Global Voices Online: Hindi Lingua Project
Founded the Hindi Lingua Project of Global Voices Online, a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Debashish continues to contribute to Global Voices to this day.
Open Source Localisation Contributions
Contributed Hindi localisations to multiple open-source tools including WordPress, Gregarious, Pebble, IndicJoomla, IJoomla, Scuttle, Snap Shots, Blog Bar, and Splitweet, helping bring these platforms to Hindi-speaking users at a time when Indic language support was far from standard. More details on the about page.
Notable Interviews
Dr. Sugata Mitra: Hole in the Wall
An in-depth interview with the award-winning scientist behind the landmark “Hole in the Wall” experiment — which proved that children in urban slums could teach themselves to use computers without formal instruction. Conducted at the peak of international interest in the project. Also published in Hindi on Nirantar. Read →
Vinay Chhajlani: Vernacular Software Pioneer
Interview with the entrepreneur who foresaw India’s vernacular internet market — arguing in 2003 that e-governance was impossible without local language software. Published when the Hindi internet market was estimated at ₹500 crore and DataQuest called it “the next big thing.” Read →
Avinash Sethi: Infobeans
Interview with the co-founder of Indore-based software firm Infobeans — examining the challenges facing mid-sized Indian software companies competing against IBM and Accenture in a maturing industry. One of Null Pointer’s earliest long-form pieces, from the JRoller era. Read →
Arun K Maheshwari: CSC India
Interview with the then MD, President & CEO of Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) India — at the time one of the world’s largest software companies, with 25% of its sales going to the US Government. A rare profile of Indore’s tech industry from a period when Indore city was largely off the national radar. Read →
Press Mentions
Null Pointer and its author have been quoted or featured across a wide range of Indian publications over the years:
- Economic Times (Dec 2005) — “Has an Indian blog touched you lately?” — Indibloggies featured
- Deccan Herald / Sunday Herald (Jan 2006) — “I BLOG, so I am!”
- Asian Age (Mar 2006) — “Blog Bytes” — quoted on Indic blogging
- Indian Express, Pune (Feb 2007) — “Battle of the Blog” — “The Indibloggies Awards…is an idea that clicked for sure”
- The Brand Reporter (Mar 2007) — “Blogging Glory” — Indibloggies profile
- The Brand Reporter (Apr 2007) — “Is there money in them?” — blog monetisation
- Dataquest (May 2007) — “Speaking Out” — Indian language blogging
- Business Today / Money Today (May 2007) — “The Write Way to Earn”
- Mail Today (Feb 2008) — “Vernacular bloggers carve a niche on Net”
- DNA Pune (Nov 2008) — “Ideas that change lives eye Tata Awards” — Podbharati nominated for TATA NEN Startup Awards
- Times of India (Mar 2010) — “Hindi crosswords, Tamil stock market analysis, bloggers doing it all”
- DNA (Mar 2011) — “Blogging takes a backseat in tweeting times”
