Lessons Learned from the #KeralaFloods
It will happen to you. All your riches will not save you. You can only go as far as your feet can take you.
L I F E
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The World Cup That Showed How Football Has Changed
It has been a week since Moscow broke Croatia’s heart. The world still reels from the hangover of the most amazing and dramatic athletic tournament anyone alive can remember. For a month, the world cup was the dope that kept the world off the current world reality shit show, keeping us all happy. As the world…
Growing Out of Popular-Culture Afflictions
The Football World Cup starts today. Yes, the FIFA World Cup, Russia 2018 kicks off in a few hours! I always considered the World Cups as among the most important events in my life and can vividly remember when and where I watched them ever since USA 1994. I always prepared for them, brushed up…
Five More Things I’ve Learned in Life Till Now
Five years ago, as the prime years of my youth were starting to wane, I suddenly realised that most of my life had been an endless parade of missed chances, lost opportunities, what ifs and could have beens. I realised that there was precious little I could do with what I had learned from them,…
#Elsagate: The Internet Has Gotten Away From Us
The internet, which once was thought would take humanity forward and help it evolve to the next level, is now seemingly accelerating its destruction. Many of its platforms, still naively thought by many to be the young, exuberant media of entertainment and liberation they once were, have long since silently mutated into monsters threatening to…
Kerala’s Millennials – How Graduate Unemployment (in Kerala) is Changing
I happened to visit an engineering college in south-central Kerala to help a small IT company with their campus placements. I was expecting things to be like they were when I was graduating nearly two decades ago: scores of anxious young people thronging rooms with lots of expectations, apprehensions, questions. But what I found was…
Layoffs and Left Shifts in the Indian IT Industry
Once upon a time, the Indian IT world was the promised land where milk and honey flowed, the sun was bright and there was a nip in the air, just like the weather of its most famous host city. Companies were hiring by the thousands and money, opportunities and H1Bs abound and everyone was happy….
United 3411 And How The Rules Of Capitalism Have Changed
The shocking incident of the brutal eviction of Dr.Dao from the overbooked United Express flight 3411 to ostensibly make space for some of their crew was, as per the free-market gospels of the post-WW2 world religion of capitalism that promises salvation through consumerism, an unpardonable sacrilege that promises eternal punishment for United Airlines in bankruptcy hell. However,…
Bangalore: A Tale of Two Cities
Whenever there occurs an incident that disturbs the peace of the city of Bangalore, like does with increasing frequency these days be it over the Kaveri river water-sharing issue or when women are assaulted during celebrations, social media, mainstream media, and personal discussions erupt with messages and expressions of shock, surprise, indignation, and disbelief. “Isn’t…
Why do People Pay a Couple of Lakhs a Year for Kindergarten?
It looks like most people aren’t aware of the fact that primary school tuition fees for one year of LKG-UKG (oh sorry, KG-1, KG-2 according to latest American standards) at an average “middle class” private school in any major Indian city, especially Bangalore, could easily come to one to two lakhs (bus, uniform, events, random…
Oppam, Drishyam and how Police are Depicted in our Movies
Oppam was a much-hyped Malayalam movie starring Mohanlal, hyped because it was directed by Priyadarshan. The actor-director duo who are real-life childhood friends had once upon a time produced a string of Malayalam comedy and drama movies, all of which have become cult classics and shaped how Malayalis think and laugh, even three decades since….
The Chinese Variables in the Kashmir Equation
Apart from the valley, Kashmir consists of mostly desolate, sparsely populated, mountainous wasteland. Have you ever wondered what could possibly be there that Pakistan finds so attractive, that it risks everything to go after it? How does Pakistan, a semi-failed state with hardly any industry or revenue keep being able to procure high-tech weaponry and infrastructure to aid…