That was a reader's reaction to a satirical article called 'Black, White and Various Shades of Brown'. To help her (and three others who also took the satire seriously), the amused Webmaster published a list of 'top ten ways of becoming fair'.

Which brings us to the question: can sites that thrive on satire manage to sustain their popularity if readers are unable to perceive the difference between a spoof and reality? More importantly, is the average Indian losing his sense of humour?

Logically, he shouldn't. Not in a country where politics is a lot funnier than any comedy on TV. Sadly, that little detail alone ought to make creators of satirical sites redundant. As college student Marissa Alvares points out, "When I am in the mood to watch cartoons, if Tom and Jerry isn't on, I switch to some political debate. It never fails to make me laugh".

Her sentiments are reflected by the noise of India disclaimer: "Though noiseofIndia.com will take utmost care in providing its readers with the most inaccurate information possible, given the fact that weird stuff does happen, there is a real danger that some accuracies may creep in."

Despite the wit at work here, the truth is this: satire is not that hot any more.

"Until six months ago", says Anand Chettiar, "I was a regular visitor at bosey.com, and even subscribed to its mailing list. But although I found the satire great, I realised it was useless to laugh at a situation instead of trying to improve it."

Bosey, among the more popular sites stocking regular doses of satire, has been inaccessible for some time now. No one knows why. Gautama, the Noise of India Webmaster, admits it had some very good articles but speculates that "these sites were probably depending on revenues to keep going (as opposed to unemployment in my case)."

It was indeed unemployment that gave birth to Noise of India since Gautama, a software professional, developed it while he was between jobs. The site is not exactly a formal dotcom -- its operational costs are near zero. It is hosted free at Yahoo! geocities and there are no salaries to be paid because Gautama writes all articles himself!

Fortunately for Gautama, he's employed again. Unfortunately for his audience, this means that site updates have all but stopped.

Most other sites that bank heavily on revenue find it difficult to rake in the moolah. The Harami Times masthead reads 'Last issue: June 15, 01. Next issue: August 29, 01???' Why the question marks? "We have fans in over 35 countries," says editor Gaurav Jain, "but it is hard to go on without a viable business model."

Advertisements and e-commerce are of little help to such sites: "Selling advertisements on our site doesn't earn enough, while selling merchandise requires a commercial partner," adds Gaurav. How does he intend to handle the situation? "I am negotiating with some media companies and we will be back in a few months."

Despite this bleak picture some satirists point out that there may be a large audience for sites like these, but they may simply not have access to the Internet yet. This theory is borne out by Akshay B, who depends on cyber cafes for his surfing: "Initially, I used to read such articles. Now, by the time I'm done emailing, there's not much time left to browse. Not when it means shelling out more money."

It may also explain why, in the US, where most people are online, satirical sites still attract eyeballs. "What decline are you referring to?", asks Andrew Marlatt of Satire Wire. "I'm not aware of it". Another American site, The Onion, promptly brings out weekly editions. Their success could, however, also be attributed to the characteristic lack of respect American citizens have for their leaders.

Now, if only the popularity of these sites was inversely proportionate to the amount of respect people had for their rulers, one could predict a much brighter future for Indian satirical sites.