Faith versus Religion: How to Tell Them Apart

• Faith will tell you that there is a god. Religion will tell you his name, address, contact details, food choices, fashion tastes, gender, and pet peeves.
• Faith tells you that your prayer will be answered. Religion tells you that your prayer will be answered only when you have performed a-b-c acts, donated x amount of food, clothes and money to the institution, and prologued and epilogued your prayers with these specific sounds.

Unfamiliar Entertainment

Before Netflix and Amazon Prime, before YouTube, before even cable TV, Indians' choice in television entertainment was limited. Severely limited. To two: Doordarshan and DD Metro. And before that, just one: DD.

Why People Are the Next Big Tech

Our age is swamped with technology. 

From robotics to smartphones; from e-rickshaws to international space stations; from CRSPR-Cas9 to Solid State Drives. Human ingenuity and science are being rapidly encapsulated in complex algorithms and packaged into dense devices and executive routines. Governments and corporations are ramping up R&D budgets to create or acquire the next big technology, like with AI, Data Science, and Machine Learning.

Narendra Modi, The Iconoclast

The Modi era may give rise to a new crop of citizens who are unafraid to question the sacred.

I went looking for a silver lining, and I think I might have found one.

iconoclast (noun): a person who criticizes popular beliefs or established customs and ideas. Origin: mid 17th cent. (originally referring to someone who destroyed images used in religious worship): via medieval Latin from ecclesiastical Greek eikonoklastēs, from eikōn ‘likeness’ + klan ‘to break’.

The Liberal Fringe: In Today's India and Family WhatsApp Groups

Oh, how the times have changed!

There was an age when moderate/liberal/progressive values were so highly regarded that people with such values were looked up to. Around me they were in larger numbers than people on the right of center. Right-wingers and conservatives were usually less educated, belonged to right-wing groups or were highly religious or highly feudal. A right-winger would either mask his inclinations or completely avoid the liberal 'elite'. Usually these two groups did not overlap, so there wasn't much friction. We can even say that people were happy in their own bubbles.

It's Time to Thank God—And Make Some Changes

I guess it's time I thanked God for sending me down as an upper caste Hindu male. Now, if only I could also pretend that I hate minorities and find gau mutra delicious—that'd set me up nicely for the next quarter century or so. I hope I'm able to coz I've heard terrible things about concentration camps.

A Strange Encounter: Bin Laden and the Value of Life

Many years ago, I had an interesting encounter. At my workplace, there was this grumpy young accountant who I rarely interacted with. He wasn't very social, but was professional while being uninviting. He was a north Indian upper-caste guy who religiously performed puja every morning and came to office with a teeka on his forehead.

Nature's Wrecking Ball: Cyclone Fani and Its Aftermath

It's a Monday evening in Delhi. The ugly, white-LED lights that show you the way while you drive back home don't soothe your discomfort at being stuck in traffic. But they're comforting in their predictability; they signal that you'll be back to the cool comfort of your air-conditioned home.

When Disaster Strikes: Cyclone Fani

One cannot imagine the enormity of a natural disaster if one hasn't been in it. So it is difficult for me, or anyone who wasn't there, to fully empathise with the millions of Odias who were battered by 200 kilometres-per-hour-plus winds of Cyclone Fani, which has been categorised as Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm.

2019: A Face Odyssey

The Demagogue-class Castecaster crash-landed on a strange planet in the Tch O-kid ‘ar  cluster of stars. I had lost my bearings and the crash had left me badly disoriented. I precariously stumbled out of the craft onto the alien terra firma. 

Invisible Currents in the Ocean of Democracy

As far as the eyes can see, there’s a thrashing ocean of blood-red tongues screaming at the top of their voices defending their candidate. It is the roaring forties of representative governance -- the general elections of the world’s largest democracy.

Teenager Makes Man Molest Her: News from 2084, Issue 7

★25 April 2084, Staff Reporter, Purushottampur★

In yet another shameful incident, a 15-year-old girl named Kusum Kumari compelled a middle-aged gentleman to molest her.

The incident took place four days ago but came to light only yesterday after the man's family protested outside Mardnagar police station alleging inaction. We cannot disclose the name of the man to protect his identity. The incident took place around noon on Friday when the man was passing by Kusum's house.

Kusum had laid a trap by being at her home with the door open. The victim was lured into the house by the open door. Seeing Kusum at her own home in broad daylight, the victim felt compelled to molest her. He raised an alarm when Kusum resisted him, and was rescued by some men standing outside. Kusum tried to escape from the bathroom window but was caught, beaten up, and handed over to the police.

An elderly lady from the neighborhood, on condition of anonymity, said, “Kusum is a known bad character. She frequently stays at home during the day. She had no business keeping her door open. This is how unsuspecting, innocent men are forced into molesting young girls.”

Kusum's parents are claiming that at the time of the incident, Kusum wasn't even at home. They're saying that the woman who made the victim molest her was actually their domestic help. The police have filed an FIR against Kusum and are currently questioning the maid. If convicted, Kusum faces life in jail without parole.

I Hate

Detestable, to say the least
The things that don't deserve
My respect or my love.
Say, for instance, the sun.

I hate the sun–
It shines bright for all
And doesn't dim itself for the 'others'
Who are not like me.

कहां चले गए हैं सारे कवि?

समय के चौराहे पर खड़ी सभ्यता
द्वेष की राह को निहार रही है।
ये कौन बताएगा हमें
कि उस पथ का शेष केवल शेष है?

अंतर्भास अन्तर के आभास से आएगा,
ये कौन समझाएगा इस पीढ़ी को
अपने सशक्त, कोमल, तीक्ष्ण, प्रेरक, स्नेही
पंक्तियों से?

कहां चले गए हैं सारे कवि?

The Demagogue

There was once a man named Abu,
Who lost his marbles in the loo.
So around the general elections,
To beguile certain sections,
He let his mouth do the poo.

No Bark, No Bite

Once upon a time, in a big and diverse country, there lived two large communities—Group Ma and Group Mi—among several smaller communities. Group Ma was the biggest and Group Mi the second biggest in numbers.

Group Mi people traditionally ate tree bark. A vast majority of Group Ma also ate tree bark, but on special occasions, they chose not to. On those special occasions, which were special for Group Ma but not for Group Mi, the Group Mi people continued to eat tree bark.

American Signage: A Journey through America

I like to read words and interpret them. I like to think about what they mean. I want to get into the head of the person who wrote them. Why did they say so? What were they going through in life when they wrote that. All this mulling makes me a slow reader. But for me, half of the joy of reading is imagining and charting out the unsaid landscape behind and beyond words---be it a literary novel, a children's illustrated book, or a business non-fiction.

The Facebook Apologia

I think I've had enough. 

This is my apologia for unfriending you.

मैं विकास हूं

मैं विकास हूं। मैं खो गया हूं।

बैठकर मेरे कांधों पर
पुत्र लाया था मुझे।
धर्म और राजनीति के संगम पर
स्नान कराया था मुझे।
फिर महत्वाकांक्षा के कुंभ में
छोड़ आया था मुझे।