Political Commentary
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Poop goes the Podcast
If you’re walking in the streets of Mumbai, you develop a certain skill, that of avoiding doggie poop. After a given time, it becomes a muscle memory; you learn to identify the object irrespective of its state of disintegration, and adjust your stride accordingly. Then one fine day, an expensively adorned cute little puppy and… Continue reading
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Happy Birthday Babu Bhai!
This is a rant that I posted recently on LinkedIn. Nothing great about it; I’ve ranted often but what I like about this one is that I typed this entirely with my right thumb in stalled traffic at Chheda Nagar Junction while staring at these ‘chamcha’ banners, of mostly unknown faces wishing random politicians on… Continue reading
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The Billionaires
It’s been fascinating to see the public performances of two uber-rich Indian families in the past few days. A study in contrasts despite the similarities: both families are extremely wealthy in a country that’s lower middle income, both have sold the story of their humble beginnings, both have “self-made” men playing (or have played) a… Continue reading
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Namibia’s Response to Germany’s Hypocrisy at the International Court of Justice #Gaza
Like millions of others, I spent a few hours watching the proceedings of South Africa’s suit against Israel at the International Court of Justice, The Hague. The two initial public hearings took place last week. It was instructive, to say the very least. South Africa was represented by a fine set of lawyers who seemed… Continue reading
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What That MakeMyTrip Ad Means
Our Overton Window has shifted; if politics, society and culture lead, marketing is bound to follow. There has been much commentary on the MakeMyTrip print ad that graced several newspapers on the day of the India vs Pakistan world cup cricket ODI fixture on 14 October. As you may have observed, the commentariat is divided.… Continue reading
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When you see a man reading a book holding it upside down…
As Israel’s genocide continues in Gaza, an even more potent information war is taking place on the internet in the rest of the world. There’s information, misinformation, disinformation, pure propaganda – a huge amount of it, and disproportionately spread by global media houses. Most mainstream global media is pro-Israel and parrots Israel’s talking points without… Continue reading
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Tryst With Destiny
Seventy-five years of Indian independence. On an occasion that calls for a solemn observation of a hard-fought freedom and a violent birth, we are in the midst of cacophonic and vacuous celebrations, bereft of any honest stock-taking or introspection. Surely, the nation has achieved much, but for some of us, her achievements are overshadowed by… Continue reading
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The Stakeout
If you grew up in Kerala, you would have heard this story. Or at least a version of it. It’s a bit of an urban (or rural?) legend. Sukumara Kurup is one of Kerala’s most notorious fugitives. In the 1980s, he faked his own death by killing a lookalike and had one of his accomplices… Continue reading
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The New Normal
Did you hear about the coach who learned that prosthetic limbs are better than human flesh and bone? Space-tech material made for lighter and more tensile structure and with lesser effort, his athletes could go faster and longer. Their present performance was only middling and he was convinced he’d figured the solution. So one night,… Continue reading