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“Cockroaches” at home? Gen Z and the new frontiers of politicization

A disparaging comment , describing the unemployed youth of the country as cockroaches and parasites, made by the chief justice of India (CJI), Surya Kant, created history. It gave rise to a much-needed street-based movement in India. The protest placards, the snappy bytes of the protestors, and the witty slogans will remain inerasable evidences of a temporal shift which the future historians will use to write the history of popular protests and Indian democracy. Image source: here We need to wait to see how this movement will make its journey from movement to being a vehicle of political transformation, but there is no doubt that the government has lost this round to India’s youth. This victory carries wider implications for our political culture and for existing notions of social and moral authority. The dominant political culture of the Modi era is based on cult loyalty, (misplaced) hyper-patriotism, and majoritarianism. Modi has quite successfully tried to fuse political, social, a...
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Selfie Point: A Conversation

Aji dekhiye na, ee humra supreme leader ka itna bada photo kaahe laga hai har jagah par? Abhi toh election ka date bhi nahi aaya hai aur lagta hai ki resultwo announce ho gaya. Aree pagli, ee koi normal photo nahi hai. It is called a selfie point - a point where the self dissolves into Him.  Gita mein likha hai na, shareer nashwar hota hai lekin aatma amar.  Haan wo toh theek hai, lekin Gita ka ee sab se kya lena dena?  Lena dena hai. Iska matlab hai chitra mein bandh kar khud bhi vichitra ho jana. Phir Gita mein toh ye bhi likha hai ki insaan na kuch lekar aata hai na lekar jaata hai. Lekin Saheb toh hamesha jhola jhola bolte rehte hain. Kahte hain, jhola uthayenge aur furr ho jayenge. Kabhi socha hain aapne ki kiska jhola lekar wo chal denge aur usmein konchi konchi rakha hoga? Soche toh nahi hain lekin ho sakta hai usmein ek digital camera ho, wahi wala jo Saheb digital camera ke utpatti ke pehle se use kar rahe the. After all, vision doesn't require technology alone. ...

On Delay: A historical and labour-centric reflection

  On Delay: A historical and labour-centric reflection   Arun Kumar's interesting piece on time and delay encouraged me to reflect on this subject more historically and also by connecting the past and the present through the prism of labour and law. The historical connectedness also opened up the questions of differentiated trajectories of world-regions, which I reflect upon only briefly and also anecdotally. This is written in the spirit of furthering the conversation rather than offering a critique to what Arun has lucidly described. However, his piece, I think, needs a further probing of the meanings and experiences of delay and waiting not only at the generalized level of 'fast capitalism' but also of historically constituted notions of power and hierarchy, that imbues meaning to practices such as delay and wait, or speed and acceleration. Further, living in the age of 'fast capitalism' has created a homogeneized expectation of quick service as the hallmark of...

Jalta Makaan Original Hindi Composition

A Visit to Archives, Tuesday, 21 November 2027.

Crispy morning with PM2.5 level at 560. Visibility restricted to 600 meters but the feel of the new Central Vista hangs in the air. The new zone of Central Vista has its own oxygen and air purifier plants. Took my seat in the hi-tech PURIFIED AIR KIOSK with a tagline –  Air that Purifies Mind  – installed at the gate. Purified air given for 30 seconds is for free. Rs 500 for every extra minute. Sir, gate pass? Me: Sorry, I thought aadhar card will work. No sir, you need to have a gate pass to enter into the building.  Me: Okay, did not know that. How does one get it now? Uff, you people come here without any proper homework. This is not old India, sir. All information available on the website. Free helpline number also given there only to plan a visit to Central Vista.  Me: Very impressive but please help me now. I don't have a pass. Next time you come, come with prior pass only. This time helping you. Use your aadhar number to log in to  centralvista.co.in/gues...

Politics of Hope-Politics over Dead

  Politics of Hope - Politics over Dead   New India, Young India, Aspirational India, Swachcha India, Atmanirbhar India – many Indias have popped up in the last few years. In quick succession, one India arrives while the other has not been even graciously discarded into the archive of the nation’s memory. Some of them live only to be dusted and polished, to be presented with gust and élan under a new tag (for instance, the earlier ‘made in India’ changed into ‘make in India’).    Almost, one feels, the force of compulsive commoditization is at work behind the swift pace with which new brands keep appearing. What does it say about the politics of our times? Why is there a need to brand a country again and again? A country, which obsesses over History right from within the whisper-soaking walls of the living room to that of the frenzied zeal of a mob that turned a monument into a pile of rubble, equally adores being recurrently decked in a new identity. Why is branding...

जलता मकाँ

            जलता मकाँ                         कुछ तो नहीं है जान की क़ीमत,                      हैरां सब हैं, क्या है हुक़ूमत,                           आस की डोर में उलझी हैं साँसें,                                     संग-ए-सियासत आँख चुराए,                  ये उठता धुवाँ, धुँधला समाँ, जलता मकाँ,                    झूठ की दुनिया, संग बसा कर,                    तुझको जीताया, ख़ुद को हरा कर,          ...