An Indecisive Indian

At the outset, let me briefly reopen some wounds, albeit purely for academic purposes. I hope you understand and let me examine whether my real-world sufferings have merely persisted or matured, like a well-bred tragedy, into something richer, darker, and faintly operatic. If pain were a stock, mine would have outperformed the Sensex in a nosedive match. One recurring affliction may be clinically described as WhatsApp tyranny. As a long-suffering inmate of this digital asylum, I have often declared open war through my blogs on its weaponised ‘kindness’, that peculiar strain of benevolence where every ping arrives dressed as a moral ambush, perfumed with glittery GIFs of neon-orange deities or aggressive sunflowers. Invoking Hamlet’s 'cruel to be kind' paradox, I had argued that these people are so aggressively kind they border on the sadistic. From obscure festivals nobody had asked for to 3:15 AM ‘Good Morning’ ballistic missiles, the deluge is nothing sho...

  Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is facing a deeply disturbing controversy after serious allegations emerged from its Nashik BPO unit. Following an undercover operation by the Nashik Police, in which women officers posed as housekeeping staff, what has come to light points to far more than isolated misconduct. Preliminary reports suggest that for over three years, multiple female employees were subjected to sexual harassment, including stalking, exploitation and molestation, along with alarming allegations of religious coercion, with claims that women were pressured to perform namaz, consume beef against their beliefs, and even consider conversion. The gravity of these allegations cannot be overstated, with victims stating that their repeated complaints were dismissed by HR manager Nida Khan and others as something ‘common in MNC culture’, reflecting not just apathy but a deeply entrenched culture that normalises abuse. Nine FIRs have been registered and at least seven arrest...

In an earlier blog (reference at the end), I had written about the Jagjit Singh show in which I was to assume the role of narrator. The evening, held on 5th April in Lucknow, met with an exceptionally warm response and, even at the cost of sounding a touch pretentious, I must admit to a quiet sense of being blessed, rather a novice to theatre, to have left some small imprint upon the performing arts canvas. Khwaateen o hazraat (ladies and gentlemen), if the prelude to an evening is anticipation, then what follows a truly lived mehfil (gathering) is something far more elusive, almost ineffable. One returns not merely with memories, but with a lingering kaifiyat (state of being), as though some unseen mehmaan (guest) has visited the soul and quietly taken residence there. As the show Kāġhaz Ki Kashti unfolded in Lucknow, it felt as if that mehmaan was none other than Jagjit Singh himself, his rooh (spirit) gently presiding over every sur (note), every lafz (word), every thehraav (pa...

  There is a famous quote, often attributed to Winston Churchill , that “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” In today’s climate of hype and headline-making announcements, one might well add a fourth category: declarations that fall into four convenient shades, the truth, the lie, the hype, and the half-truth. Indian Railways (IR) , it would seem, has not merely learnt the craft of presenting hype and half-truths but has elevated it to something of a performing art, complete with drumrolls, confetti cannons, standing ovations. First the hype. There are innumerable examples, but let us stick to the latest one. It was announced this week that building on the success of Vande Bharat trains, a new era of high-speed freight transport is going to begin with Vande Bharat-based freight trains. IR is gearing up to launch India’s Vande Bharat freight EMU, and Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, will soon roll out the first prototype for testing and trials. The fre...