doublethink

  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...

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   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...

In 1930, a sadhu named Dhoortanand had come to a wealthy household of one Lalaji, promising him to double his wealth by conducting a three-day tapasya (penance, ritual). The next morning, Lalaji had to go to the police station to report on the absconding sadhu and the missing wealth. Apparently, Lalaji was not the only one to have fallen prey to the promise of becoming richer; such a tapasya, according to the police, was conducted in at least twenty-five households. Published under the title Gerua Daaku (Ochre-Robe Robber) under a Kahkaha series (joke-stories), the story and the name itself – Dhoortanand, meaning deceitful – symbolised the extent to which the figure of the sadhu had become the stock of social mocking in the early decades of the twentieth century.   Cutting across layers of time, perhaps there is no other Indian figure that comes close to sadhus in being seen as the bearer of disguise and artiste of deceit. From the times of the Ramayana when Ravana disguised as ...

India must give importance not only to ‘eminent’ personalities from the past and present but must also be open to integrating marginal and subaltern figures in the commemorative pantheon. Full piece here