When I first came across the title, "How Opal Mehta got kissed, got wild and got a life" I already knew that I wanted to get hold of this novel and read it. The title instantly sparked an interest. And that it was written by a 19 year old Indian studying at Harvard came as a pleasant surprise. I remember reading about Kaavya's interview where she has stated that she had earlier thought against having an Indian character for her novel as it might not get any takers, but later changed her mind. More of a reason to feel proud of a teenager whose very first literary attempt sky rocketed to the best-sellers list. And that is when the trouble began........
Charges of plagiarism leaped from all fronts and I still thought that she must have lifted some idea or maybe some characterisation. But that 40 odd passages were lifted from Megan McCafferty's novels, "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings," wasn't an easy news to digest. And while Kaavya apologised and her publishers backed her claim that it was done subconsciously and unintentionally, and some people debated, some argued, some sympathised, came the second round of accusations that Kaavya lifted scenes from Sophie Kinsella's novel, "Can you keep a secret?". You will find more of it here:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02auth.html?_r=1&n=Top%2
fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fV%2fViswanathan%2c%20
Kaavya&oref=slogin]

Kaavya's apology after the first round of accusations was found to be weak and not accepted by Megan McCafferty. The second time around she chose to remain mum. And finally the last nail in the coffin was driven - her novel was taken off the bookstores by the publishers.
Is there a lesson here for all of us to learn? What drove a 19 year old ( I believe she was 17 when she began writing it) to plagiarise to such an extent? Although I haven't read her novel, reviewers have noted that while she might not be a volcano of literary talent she's not a no-gooder either. Many believe she could have carried the novel on her own shoulders. Kaavya is guilty no doubt, but to crucify her to the hilt in forums and blogs would be stretching it a bit too far. As writers we all owe responsibility to our readers. Our writings can inspire or lead them to conspire.....And especially with blogomania looking to stay around for a long time to come we need to watch our step. There have been reports of wrong info being posted in blogs and questions have been raised about opinions being expressed in blogs about sensitive issues. And while many argue that writing is "freedom of ex-pression" and blogging is part of a personal domain, there's no denying the fact that we are influencing minds. And lets strive to do this more responsibly.....