How to Do Nothing

This article shares its title with a New York Times bestseller by Jenny Odell. But I haven’t read it. A reviewer said that Ms Odell’s work is "ambitious". This article’s subject is the antithesis of ambitious.

I’ve been working. I’ve been busting my ass without a break for months now. I’ve kept my nose to the grindstone working on stuff that turns your brain into an overheated, dried-up, two-stroke engine. But even when I’m not working at the stuff that brings in the bread, I’ve been dosing myself with social media, snorting newsfeed to lull my brain, distract me from matters of bread-earning.

Leading the Lamb to the Slaughter

Free-market systems mimic nature. In that, the big fish will, naturally, eat the small fish. Because they can. If left to itself, the system will result in a power struggle of the economic kind, which also spills into the social domain. Those who gain power are, again naturally, inclined towards retaining it and growing it through unending acquisitions. Why would they reduce it voluntarily and risk extinction?

How Readers Bought Fiction Titles—And the Non-fiction Books They Should've Bought Instead

At the General Book Fair of 2014, and again in 2019, people overwhelmingly chose to buy fiction titles. But now that we have a mortal crisis, people are clamouring for non-fiction titles to help them understand, manage, and cope. But the non-fiction titles are naturally out of stock because

"I Can't Breathe"

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

Decades ago, when I was a schoolboy, something had happened that I was reminded of this week. I was at my study table, poring over my textbooks, engrossed, when I was mildly distracted by a tiny black ant.

I Miss Neighbourhoods

I miss neighbourhoods ... where you could just pop into a friend's house uninvited, to chit chat or eat or drink something, or just yell your friend's name from outside his house, waiting for him to come out so that you can go to play, or gossip about another friend or talk random shit,

The Social Distance

    “Stop tossing and turning, Radha. Your bangles are making hell of a racket!”

    “Sorry …”

    “Ever since the lockdown began, you’ve not been sleeping well. And neither are you letting me.”

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’.

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.

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?

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.

News from 2084, Issue 4: Breakthrough in Traditional Medicine

★19 January 2084, Staff Reporter, Gwalaheri★

In a major breakthrough, scientists at Nim Huckim Paramparik Aushadhi Kendra (NHPAK) claim to have developed a health drink that can cure such dangerous illnesses as cancer, AIDS, schizophrenia, homosexuality, and love.

News from 2084, Issue 3: SC Upholds Cricket Ban

★18 January 2084, Staff Reporter, Indraprastha★

Ruling in favour of the government, the Supreme Court yesterday declared cricket illegal under the Bharatiya Sanskriti Act (BS Act). It took the government 64 years to finally achieve this feat after decades of public campaigns and re-education.

Author Arrested for Portraying Immoral Act: News from 2084, Issue 2

17 January 2084, Staff Reporter, Prayagraj

Nobel Prize-winning children's author Ram Charan was arrested yesterday after a midnight raid on his residence. Prayagraj Police's Vice Squad (PPVS) undertook this raid upon taking cognizance of the complaint of the parents of a child.

The parents were infuriated that the author's latest book, which the child was reading, featured an illustration of a girl in jeans. PPVS Sub-Inspector Pramod Mahadik said, "Mr Charan claims innocence and has said that this was an editorial lapse and he never meant to portray immoral acts. We are currently questioning the editor and the publisher of the book. We are leaving no stone unturned in catching the culprit of this ghastly crime." Sources close to the investigation revealed that the publisher is blaming the illustrator. He alleges that the illustrator, a woman, has drawn this illustration during her impure days, which was a breach of her contract terms. Further investigation by this correspondent has revealed that the illustrator may have been under the influence of a banned psychotropic drug called 'feminix'.