An Indecisive Indian

  The idea for this blog hitched a ride on a curious paradox—India’s High-Speed Rail dreams gliding on the promise of bullet-like velocity, but hobbling forward at the pace of a bullock cart with a limp. The immediate trigger was an invitation from Mint/Hindustan Times to speak on a panel with two fellow railway domain experts—stalwarts both of them—on the prospects of High-Speed Rail (HSR) in India.   Here's the published piece that emerged from that discussion: https://www.hindustantimes.com/genesis/highspeed-rail-driving-economic-growth-and-sustainability-in-india-101746593803612.html   The article captured the sanitised slice of what I said, and I extract the essence here for context:   There are global instances where high-speed trains have cannibalised air travel, dramatically reducing the carbon footprint. Just look at China—10 billion passenger trips annually, compared to about 8 billion in India—and they’ve built an eye-popping 45,000-kilometre high-speed r...

  https://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-bayan-e-ghalib-show-kahte-hain-ki.html   In a world increasingly cluttered with cacophony and noise, where poetry often struggles to find its rightful space, I dared to dream—not merely a dream, but a spectacle. Not a mere recital of verses, but a visual and aural celebration of the greatest Urdu poet ever to have walked the narrow lanes of Delhi: Mirz ā  Asadull ā h Kh ā n  Ghālib .   I dreamt of something audacious—a show that would breathe life into Ghalib's immortal words, with every syllable soaked in sur (musical tune, note), every line adorned with raqs (dance), and every pause echoing with narrative gravitas. Bayān-e-Ghālib was to be no ordinary mehfil (assembly, gathering)—it would be an andaaz-e-b ayān aur (unique style of narration) , an experience that would lift Ghalib from the pages of diwans and letters and place him centre stage, where music, dance, and emotion entwine.   A...