nothing is more important than the colour of a bikini nothing is more important than to be against ‘love jihad’ supposedly being represented on screen nothing is more important than if a scene in a movie was removed or not ban it burn it or kill them all let the small girlchild continue eating from the garbage can foraging in[Read More…]
I’ve seen the faces of those who work for you Your money is made on the backs you broke Of their blood, sweat, and tears And cheap labour I have seen the agony on their faces Smelled the cheap liquor they are forced to imbibe to forget As their women struggle and their children grimace As they lay down for[Read More…]
How easy it is to be a patriot All I need is a pic of a flag and a frame given free on FB and when I go out to wear white or ethnic and pin on a flag put it in front of my house for all to see and on my car or scooter/bike Say Bharat Mata ki[Read More…]
” HAPPINESS AND WELLBEING INDICES There is an ever-growing number of research reports from global economists that go far beyond the limited metric of GDP to gauge nations’ overall happiness and wellbeing. These studies use somewhat different measurements (whether the strength of social connections or obesity rates), so rankings can vary—but this research is giving us a clearer, more meaningful[Read More…]
I got a little tired of believing that the man who died during demonetisation while standing in a queue of a heart attack was any less important or not gold-medal deserving than the man who can throw a javelin further than others with the help of an Australian coach and a German or two for good measure I got a[Read More…]
Wake Up India: Essays for Our Times – continued A democracy needs at least two big parties and to rotate them. Time to rotate and give the baton to the Congress and its allies now. Demonetisation failed to bring back any black money. In fact, the BJP government is being asked to give an explanation for the excess money it[Read More…]
In the last article I had come to the crux of what ails Indian socially or sociologically and pointed out that this has an effect on its economics, politics, philosophy, psychology history and everything else for its detriment. I had said that the malaise was called Brahiminism or Brahmanism. I am not the first person to say this and I[Read More…]
The problem with India is not just about something as simple as defeating the BJP in 2019 elections. This is definitely a must but the major problem is exemplified by the fact that “where there is no vision the people perish.” To put it more clearly, the RSS, the BJP and its satellites have a vision for the country, a[Read More…]
If we talk to reductionists who are die hard Hindu upper caste and usually upper caste about the Other that is Muslim they come up with some interesting observations that can be summed up in the amusing and alarming sentence ‘all Muslims are potential terrorists as all terrorists are Muslim.’ This is followed by statements that stem from fear like:[Read More…]
My previous essay in this series of Essays for Our Times addressed to India got three hundred shares on fb. This surprising fact has made me keep quiet for a long time, wondering what to write next. It was on “why I am an Indian.” Meanwhile, while I go on reifying the definitions of nation, India and what it means[Read More…]
Bertrand Russell wrote “Why I am not a Christian.” Kancha Ilaiah wrote “Why I am not a Hindu.” Shashi Tharoor wrote “Why I am a Hindu.” Shashi Tharoor thinks his book will appease Hindus. Kancha Ilaiah has had his book banned in universities but that will not stop its truths from spreading. I would like to explain why I am[Read More…]
The common man/woman knows India is struggling over simple issues. We need clean air and no pollution, we have water problems, we all need food, shelter and clothing as well as proper jobs, good education, good medical care and leisure, families, old age care, care for the disabled etc., plus electricity, good travel facilites, technology like the internet and phones,[Read More…]
It seems to me there can only be two kinds of people on earth, those who hold to untruth and those who hold to truth and the latter will always find themsevels outnumbered by the former. Let us take the idea of language, state, nation, race, class, gender and religion or caste in India and in other places except for[Read More…]
Wake Up India: Essays for Our Time – 2 We know that all the people who say that India is not a nation but divided are not speaking anything wise. To divide Indians on the basis of religion or caste or language against language or languages or region against region or regions on the basis of class or gender or[Read More…]
My previous section dealt with India’s political and civic under-preparedness regarding water scarcity. But now I want to talk of the other extreme, as to our under-preparedness in the case of floods, in the realm of disaster management which is wider and includes earthquakes for which too India is not prepared and diseases etc., as witnessed to in the recent[Read More…]
Chapter 2 – Poverty and Class analysis with reference to 2014-2018 BJP rule (I Part on Water) Coming to water next – an issue so pressing that all governments should suspend themselves and concentrate on solving this if they are to make any sense in India for the 2019 election. “A few numbers from the World Bank highlight the plight[Read More…]
The water rose in our house to the first floor The water came suddenly from the river to where it had never come before as the dam had been unleashed into it and it had overflowed even to the midst of the town We left without further ado An old man and an old woman a daughter and her husband[Read More…]
Wake Up India: Essays for Our Times- Chapter 2 This whole second book of mine is of course on voting out the BJP in 2019 and giving the Congress the next chance because that is how democracy should work and a large nation like India should have at least four major national parties and give them turns so that they[Read More…]
Wake Up India: Essays for Our Times – Part 2 – Chapter 2 If we draw a line with three cardinal points in it of extreme left and extreme right and centre to represent the political situation in India at the extreme right is BJP with its backers like RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and other Hindu ultra right organisations and[Read More…]
Chapter 2 – Poverty and Class analysis with reference to 2014-2018 BJP rule (Part I) Why I have returned to write a sequel to the earlier book is basically to refute the claim that four years of BJP rule has made a difference to India, that things have become better. My first chapter that pointed out that atrocities against Dalits[Read More…]
Wake Up, India: Essays for Our Times – Part 2. Chapter 1 – Dalits in the Spotlight during 2014- 18 BJP Rule. On 17, January 2016, Rohith Vemula died. His suicide letter became the cause of a widespread anger that again highlighted or brought to the forefront the issue of whether Dalits are treated justly or unjustly in India and[Read More…]
Asifa, I have no words to speak of or for you
I had planned to give up poetry
At the end of this month
This National Poetry Writing Month
Poetry is of no use
Words have no beauty
What I need is action to enthuse
My deeds have to fill the stage of this world
So that never again is there an Asifa.
Hell was the gated compound
where the ones inside were holding a party
in their glass houses and ivory towers
while you stood outside
Stone Age man
holding your child’s hand
stone of words, unpelted yet
reading the name plates on the gates
I am the son of a ‘criminal’ who died on the tree.
I am also the son of a ‘bitch’
I am the son of a Pulaya woman
that Parayan you wanted to ditch
I am crucified
I am resurrected
The Tragedy of Footpaths: Impressions of a Pedestrian in Bangalore 
Altruism exists in nature, Reciprocal altruism in humans 
U.S. Trying To Cover Up Its Role In Nord Stream Sabotage, Says Seymour Hersh 
Open Letter To Rahul Gandhi, Indian National Congress Party 
Future Scenarios in Ukraine 
West Sends Depleted Uranium Weapons to Ukraine: MEP to Warmongers – “You Make Me Sick!” 
Sri Lanka’s unconvincing response to Universal Periodic Review’s forthright findings 
Kisan Mahapanchayat stages massive rally in Delhi 
The betrayers of Julian Assange 
The Truth About Our Failure to Curb Carbon Emissions 
They’re liars, Mexico’s President on U.S. 
Grameena Pedala Sangham, Telangana State conference, is an important mile-stone 
Imperial Visits: US Emissaries in the Pacific 
Enough is enough. Restore parliament 
Disgrace at the New York Times 
‘Israel is (Not) Back to Africa’: How African Countries are Challenging Israeli Plot on the Continent 
A Highway to Peace or a Highway to Hell? The Vast Power of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex 
Accelerating Change on United Nations World Water Day 2023 
Defence Daredevilry 
Selling One’s Soul – The betrayal of Christ and Constitution 
Climate Crisis Has Caused Increasingly Irreversible Losses, Says UN Report 
Yarrow Mamout Masjid Dedicated at Georgetown University 
Adolf Hitler, Carl Orff & Sophie Scholl 
Algeria’s Gas vs. Rightwing Ideology: Will Italy Change Its Position on Jerusalem? 
From Balloons to AUKUS: The War Drive Against China 
Paul Keating’s criticism of Australia’s AUKUS deal is damming but not “astonishing”, – in fact, timely! 
In memory of 20th anniversary of the Iraq War 
CBI investigation against Harsh Mandar’s NGO is nothing but travesty of justice 
Concept of Gram Swaraj (‘Village Self-Reliance’) and Its Increasing Relevance for Our Times Indian Democracy & Chaos in Parliament! 
Veterans Condemn Eviction of Aruna Rodrigues from her Residence 
America’s Wars 
Criminals at Large: The Iraq War Twenty Years On 
Massive White House Protest Against Endless Wars 
From ‘Progress’ to an Economics of Happiness 
On Missing Dr. Strangelove Or How Americans Learned to Stop Worrying and Forgot the Bomb 
The Arrest Warrant Against Putin and International Justice 
Illiberal Democracy and Anti-modernization waves in south-Asia 
To prevent a civil war that is about to happen in Pakistan 
Self-Reliant Farmers Improve their Economics and Also Contribute to Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
