Citywalk: Warm and Toasty
Today, after running through my Wednesday morning chores, I scrolled through my old social media posts. It’s narcissistic, I admit, but it’s also almost like reading someone else’s timeline, because...
View ArticleFood Lanes
There is an all-day eatery right outside our building, on the side where the big sliding windows open. Early this morning, when I pushed the pane aside, the first batch of vadas and pooris were just...
View ArticleSame Old Spilled Blood
This morning, I woke up at 5:30 to be greeted by the news of brutal police assault on Jadavpur University students just three hours prior. One person is in coma, female students had their clothes torn...
View ArticleHow to Manage the Media: A Guide for India
An interesting aspect of the police brutality at Jadavpur University today has been the response of West Bengal’s most powerful media house’s response to it. As my former classmate and friends SD and...
View ArticleProgressive India and Social Media
In 2005, when I was an undergrad atJUDE, our canny Registrar went on a holiday, and in the absence of his velvet-covered iron gloves, things fell apart spectacularly. What could have been a small...
View ArticleBetter Local Governance: Electing vs. Assigning
Much of the US was a structural shock to my system. When I first heard that such key offices as Commissioner of Police and district attorney was elected rather then appointed from a national, rotating...
View ArticleThe Dragon Nightmare: The Porcelain Doll 1
AUTHOR BRIEF: Hemendra Kumar Roy was a very popular author for children’s and young adult fiction, not that there was much of a difference between the two at his time. Society was rather different then...
View ArticleFrom Fourteen Fasting Students Determined to Live
The students of Jadavpur University request humbly that you starve yourself for 24 hours. I pass on their request to you because I am heartened by your passionate outrage about global moral crises:...
View ArticleVictory, She Announced
Sourced from social media, for in many ways, this movement has been defined by its presence on social media. For that, as my friend Parichay pointed out, #hokkolorob probably owes a debt to journalist...
View ArticleSnapshots of a Small Revolution, 1
The #hokkolorob (‘Let there be clamour’, ‘let there be a confluence of voices’) movement based in Jadavpur University saw a great deal of support from the public, and some opposition from the state...
View ArticleThe Great Indian Price Con
[Much like the Flipkart Pricing Con, only with medicines.] Over the years, as the noonday demon sank its subtle claws deeper into me, I began to gradually go off the current events grid. I began...
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