I made someone uninstall one of the 59 apps. Their response:
It will be interesting to see if Indians boycott the COVID vaccines if developed by the Chinese.
The ban doesn't bother me. It does bother those who were actively using the apps. Looks like some of these were pretty popular and useful. We seen to be inconveniencing our own citizens more than the Chinese businesses.
I was one of the people asking for the government to prefer Indians ventilators and tests. Guess I was playing with the lives of patients. Sorry.
Thank you, China, for turning our chest thumping, lathi wielding, boisterous Hindutva supporters into pacifists like me.
I believe the current status is:
- Fight Pakistan at any pretext
- Ignore anything China does
- Be confused about हिन्दू राष्ट्र Nepal's recent transformation from a cute teddy bear that you could blockade and push around at will
So, I don't know what the deal with the blood plasma of healed COVID-19 patients is, but everyone seems to want it. I don't have any to give. But given how crazy the COVID-19 spread is, I might end up needing it.
So I propose a mutual cooperation in the matter of this plasma. If you join my collective, we agree to give each other our COVID-19 healed blood plasma, if one has it and the other needs it.
["Me" includes my two children, who cannot donate but can receive blood. "You" includes your dependents who are below the age of consent. If you have an SO or family member who are adults, this collective does not automatically include them; they must individually join. Being a part of the collective does not mean I can request you to donate blood to anybody else, even if they're my most loved cousin or aunt.]
This is stupid.
13 years ago I was consulting for a telecom company. They would rent out their equipment. Some customers would not pay the rent on time. They wanted a way to remotely disable the equipment in the event of non payment. But the equipment wasn't remotely accessible. What could they do?
They built a timer into the equipment. Every month the equipment would stop working at a certain date. A service engineer would have to visit in order to reactivate the equipment. The technician would of course not visit of there were dues.
If customers paid on time, they wouldn't even know that such a timer exists. They'd pay on time, the technician would visit in the first week of the month and just reset the timer.
Anyway. You don't need to know this anecdote to understand that the Chinese can build all kinds of kill switches into their equipment. Even a full audit of the source code wouldn't bring the issues up, because Trojans are found even in open source code after years of scrutiny.
Anyone who programs had used downward counters for all kinds of resets. We also know that it isn't enough to audit the initial system, if you aren't going to audit every single update. And can each update to mission critical systems like power distribution really wait for months of audit?
The government speaks of Make in India on the one hand. On the other hand it wants cheap Chinese equipment to balance it's books. Before liberalisation we used to build everything right here, using BHEL etc. We didn't build enough, and we weren't world class. But there is no reason why ISRO can be world class and BHEL can't. All we need is commitment.
Where are the rains this year?
It is very sad when people who are a part of India have to remind the Indian government that they are a part of India, they love India, and they deserve protection from foreign invasion just as much as the rest of India. 😔
All police departments in India are rotten, with their rules, procedures and attitudes directly descended from colonial rule. But having lived in TN for five years, in my experience that department is the most rotten of any state I've lived in - worse than Delhi, MP, Karnataka and Haryana. I remember the time when I had to accompany a friend for the lodging of a missing complaint, because police stations in Chennai were simply not safe for a woman to venture alone to in 2004.
Why I've never visited Wagah nor intend to
If you haven't done stuff like this in the mirror, you are boring.
Yesterday I got पौधा, उसमें आया snail 🐌 😊
Today was one of those very rare days when I ventured out of my neighbourhood. The plan was to get something for Kavin that cannot be ordered online. I was in the Hong Kong bazaar area when a child approached me. She asked me for money for food.
I quickly decided that in the times of Covid, I wouldn't be encouraging child begging by giving alms. So I promptly fished out ₹10 for her. She said she'd need more, she couldn't possibly get a meal in 10. I asked her how much she needed. She said 30. I made it 30.
Then I casually asked her if she went to school. She said the school wouldn't accept her in torn clothes; they need a uniform. I asked her whether she'd go to school of she got a uniform. She nodded a yes. I told her I'd swing by later today for sure, and see what could be done about her schooling. She smiled, thanked me, and waved good bye.
I was confident I'd be back. The plan was to give the kids their first outing outside the neighbourhood since March. They'd stay in the car and choose something, and then I'd step out of the car alone and buy it.
But later in the day we got busy doing gardening, and then washing all the mud with our super soaker. And then soaking each other. And laughing. And stopping Nilay from trying to soak passers-by. The gift buying expedition was forgotten.
Until now. And now I've lost sleep over this. I've never seen a more genuine smile on the face of a beggar child. She really meant it. She wants to go to school.
Khushi. About 8 years old. Stays at Rajesh Pilot Chowk, in the service lane that leads up to Club Florence.
Nilay: Kavin is like this tiny alien trying to manipulate humans into giving him what he wants.
Me: What?
Nilay: Geometrical alien. Coz he likes origami.
It's the alien's birthday today. Birthdays in lockdowns are weird. If you know Kavin and want to help make his day special, WhatsApp me and we'll figure something out. Kavin's idea of a good birthday is a day spent exactly the way he wants, doing what he loves.
I want to understand what level of stupidity our channels cater to.
20 years ago we all used to make fun of American media. "Yea Americans so stupid they believe in anything". What we didn't realise is that without any control, private media in any country is going to indulge in this nonsense. This is what Facebook and TV both are full of. And more importantly, there are more stupid people in India than there are in the US.
In the game of upper caste Hindu majortarianism, soldiers are just another pawn.
In Kota, family visiting COVID-19 patient disconnects ventilator to plug-in air cooler; patient dies, doc assaulted
This is India in a nutshell. Why decry the leadership when the citizenry is like this.
Wow. Soldiers don't even move unarmed within our cities. What is going on? Why would our soldiers patrol a disputed border unarmed? Like why would they literally go to remove a Chinese tent unarmed?
Do not bring up the number of Chinese casualties when discussing the deaths of Indian soldiers. Deaths on both sides were unnecessary, more so because this is about rocky terrain that no one lives on and has no economic value.
We need to mourn the deaths of Indian soldiers and prevent further casualties. Yes, Indian troops are brave, and they killed Chinese troops too, but that isn't the point. The point is that all of this is pointless and we need to descalate.
It is Modi and Xi's responsibility to ensure dialog happens and the situation defuses. It is in their benefit that the situation does not defuse - any battle benefits them both politically. Both these useless fat fellows have been serenading each other in meetings in both India and China, and then this? This is their diplomacy and competency? Shame on them, sending young men to die so they can bask in the glory of their sacrifices.
The colonels on both sides have been meeting to discuss, resolve, step back. They know, on both sides, what it takes to maintain presence on such inhospitable territory, leave alone fight. They don't want a battle. We shouldn't either.
And every warmonger on either side who talks of the casualty on the other side - I hope they get bludgeoned with spiked clubs in the comfort and protection of their TV studios.
Young men are clubbing each other to death at the border. Bludgeoning each other to death.
Why? Why do we need this? I call upon my Chinese friends. We don't need this. We don't need our young men killing each other like this, in fist fights.
Let us talk to our respective governments. The world is suffering enough with COVID-19. Let's all just get along.
The Galwan river is running in spate. A river in spate is such a scary things. Soldiers are crossing the river on foot and fighting with sticks and stones. The injured are getting swept away in the river. I can only imagine the fear and bravery.
Why waste the bravery of young Indian and Chinese men? Let's all stand back. 🙏🏽
There's
Native Americans
African Americans
Asian Americans
There's no
European Americans
Instead, there's
Irish Americans
Italian Americans
German Americans
The identities of the colonizers are carefully preserved. The Pioneers. New England. The Pilgrims. Everybody teaches their stories.
The identities of everybody else are meticulously erased. They are commoditised.
Besht
रायता फैलाये संघ
भुगतें हमारे जवान
उधर चीन हमारी ज़मीन गबन कर रहा था
इधर दिल्ली में RSS का भवन बन रहा था
Masterstroke. Modiji has solved the Kashmir issue once and for all. Modiji abrogates Article 370. China invades J&K and takes Ladakh, gives Kashmir valley to "friend" Pakistan. India gets Jammu. Problem "solved" once and for all. Wah Modiji wah.
The government is constantly charging citizens with sedition. I wonder in which forum the citizens can charge the government with sedition. After all it has failed in its responsibility and ceded land to China in Doklam and Ladakh. And this might just be the beginning, Nepal is already waiting in the wings.
The government has committed the biggest sedition by losing Indian territory to neighbours. Since 1962 the Indian economy has grown 75 times in USD terms. But the BJP will keep saying, "Nehru also lost to China". What duds.
Pakistan torturing Indian staffers.
China killing soldiers.
Nepal redrawing the map.
Modi मोदी ✊🏽
Bhakts:
Manusmriti is the good.
Bollywood nepotism is the bad.
I practice yoga to contort my body to match my twisted mind.
One thing I don't have during the pandemic, and won't ever need again:
Battery Anxiety.
My phone is on 15% right now and I couldn't care less.
Kavin wakes up from sleep to state "I still don't understand how Möbius strip works"
What keeps you awake at night?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6bius_strip
Coming soon to an adorable baraat near you...
Me: (Starts watching this video.)
Nilay: Scooch over. I wanna watch too.
Balaji: (Starts speaking in Tamil, as if on cue)
Nilay: Your friend made the smoothest language switch ever.
Shiva: (Starts speaking)
Nilay: This guy isn't speaking. He's rapping.
Me: Go away. Non serious fellow.
Nilay: You translate for me. You know Tamil no. Translate. Ha ha. You know Tamil like I know Spanish.
Me: Kunjam Kunjam. Poda.
Teachers aren't just critical to us surviving the pandemic. They are critical to society becoming liveable and functional. They are grossly underpaid, and we all pay the price for that. Nations and states with better paid teacher and better funded schools outperform others.
So the least you can do is not crib about it when your monthly private school fees payment comes up. It's less than your rent, your car and home EMIs, even your monthly travel budget. Your cars and homes and vacations aren't going to make your child a good citizen. Education will. So invest in it without complaining.
(Your other option is to strive for a political system that pays for high quality education for everybody. But, if your kids are going to a private school, you're in a high income bracket. You'll likely end up paying more for universal education through increased taxes, than you do today for just your own children. We would end up with a better society overall, and we would all benefit from it. So basically there is no escaping the funding of education in this जन्म.)
For all those who have contributed to Project Rebuilding Livelihoods, here is a lovely profile of @[749695906:2048:Sana] who was coordinating the relief work. Thank you again for your contributions, folks.
@[509738799:2048:Asmita], thank you for the lovely profile. I imagined Sana to be working on relief work full time, given how fast she responds and how she's at it all day. Looks like she has a day job and a family to take care of, like the rest of us. Clearly that makes her superhuman.
56mm की बहादुरी देखिए
Nilay, after cooking pasta for the whole 👨👦👦, was sitting on my 🛏 eating pasta out of the pan.
Nilay: I'm the chef👨🏽🍳, I can do whatever I want.
Me: Your🍴is gonna scratch the non stick surface.
Nilay: Cribbo. You want more pasta? I give you more pasta. Then you be happy.
Kavin (after sitting by himself for a while, pondering): Why doesn't the government directly put money in the bank accounts of poor people?
Me: That's what Rahul Gandhi wants.
Kavin: Who is he?
Me: Exactly.
People think the only polarisation on social media is in politics.
My friends @[583438337:2048:Sugata Mitra] and @[586645405:2048:Pallavi Phatak] have opposing views on online education. Both are educationists I respect. I read posts by both of them, and try to formulate my own opinion. And no, I'm not going to just walk the middle path. The middle path is for wusses.
So yes, everybody, please keep talking on Facebook about your respective areas of expertise. It helps sponges like me immensely.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158465662145406&id=586645405
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158847611138338&id=583438337
Kavin: Where do I put these tiny glass jars?
Me: I don't have use for these jars. Put them in a drawer in the kitchen. At least they'll jingle every time the drawer opens and be of some use.
Nilay: I love how you're approaching this.
And that is why I have all that hair on me head.
What the heck is wrong with people? I received a spam email advertising body bags. Literally body bags. Gmail didn't even catch the email and send it to spam.
This one is going to haunt me.
Talk to your children about discrimination, like you talk to them about hygiene. Your children would never eat with filthy hands; how could you allow them to ever call the hands that feed them, filthy.
Much of the world has very little left to lose right now. A majority of the people in this world lived hand to mouth, and now their hands are empty. Push them a little bit more, and they will revolt against your social order where the rich have everything and the poor have nothing, even though the planet and its resources are shared property.
Those who complain about riots should know their own abhorrent past and present.
Chipped cups. A hellish memory from childhood.
When you perpetuate racism and the caste system. When you discriminate. You don't just hurt the oppressed. You hurt your own children and traumatise them for life. You think your own children aren't sensitive enough to not be scarred for life by your mistreatment of the poor who serve you? When you are rude to a begging child tapping on your car window, you think it doesn't sting them? Then you underestimate the inherent sensitivity and compassion in your children.
Judge a man by how he treats waiters. But also judge him by how he treats everyone who works for him, or is less fortunate than him.
(the problem with casteism is that you don't have to witness it in your own home. It is everywhere, so no child escapes it growing up.)
School: What is your child's choice of third language in grade 6?
Me: So, Kavin, Spanish or French?
Kavin: Rrrrrussian!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujwXHm9FzXw
In college I used to raise funds for an NGO called Udavum Karangal. Then I heard a critique of them - the reason children are orphaned or old people abandoned is because places like UK exist. People abandoning children know that someone will take care of them. And UK advertises the destitution of these unfortunate individuals to raise money.
On the street, any time Balaji Sampath came across children begging, he would give them something. I was firmly opposed, "The reason those children are out on the streets begging, Balaji, is because people like you give them money/food/things. You stop entertaining them, the 'market' for begging will collapse, they will end up in school". Balaji would never quite argue with me, but also not agree.
At this point, I could say, "how naive was I". But Balaji had delivered this fantastic talk about poverty at the CLT. He had made me realise that poverty isn't the fault of the poor. That poverty is created; it is systemic, and it is debilitating. Poor people take bad decisions, not because they are stupid or lazy, but because they are poor. I loved his talk. I had no reason to be naive.
But there were the others. Batchmates. Professors. Some folks I met in Chennai. They would explain to me their ideas very convincingly. To think that these people are all in positions of power now - It horrifies me more than the all pervasive poverty of India horrifies me. Business leaders. Academicians. Scientists. If they were so firm in their beliefs then, that they could easily convince me, how firm would they be now? And what decisions do they take based on their broken beliefs about poverty and destitution?
I suppose the answers are everywhere around us to see. When the poor die on the highways and trains, it is because those in power strongly believe they do not need help. Our education system has completely failed to impart basic empathy. And our society has actively sucked empathy out of us.
@[663772845:2048:Hank LeMieux] your city is winning the internet. Nice.
The stereotype in my mind says that a southern white guy can never say bad things about slavery. This was refreshing 😜
हिन्दुस्तान में हर आदमी की जात होती है। And it just annoys me no end.
Security guard stops someone from coming to my house. I ask him if guests are not allowed. He says "Guest नहीं है सर driver है।"
Anyone who works in my office is just a person. An employee. But depending on the clothes they are wearing, security in my neighbourhood, and our office building, constantly judges them. White collar workers of course move about everywhere uninterrupted at all times. But the blue collar must fill forms, specify why they are visiting, when they will leave.
It is unnerving. It doesn't stop at separate toilets or elevators for the help. Its pervasive and everywhere and everybody not only accepts it, they even demand it. They demand that some people be treated as less than people. When entering the neighbourhood, drivers have their hands cleaned with sanitizer, and maids must wash hands at a washbasin. Meanwhile, middle class people and "residents" move about uninterrupted. But of course, if you are a maid who lives full time within the colony, you aren't a resident, you're still a maid.
An engineer was supposed to come pick up a printer for some urgent work. He sent a driver instead, because the driver was sitting idle. Now the driver is stuck outside the gate, and we are all twiddling thumbs, while the guards figure out what the जात of this man is and whether he is permitted. Of course the engineer could have come and gone uninterrupted. Meanwhile our office rules stay the same for everyone - everyone maintains distancing, everyone gets scanned for fever a few times a day, everyone gets a mask, etc.
😤
Solidarity of the working class with the racially discriminated.
Poverty. Wealth inequality. Racism. Sexism. Every oppressed person understands what oppression means.
Protest is NOT anarchy. Enough is enough. People need to be heard and will do what it takes to take their right to breathe in a supposed democracy.
Me last night
I have received a LinkedIn connection request from someone whose bio title reads:
"Nobody understand business and technology better than me, The best person to advise and design technology for business."
I'm just going to put this here for context:
Both the times when my children were conceived, the doctor asked me to get a VD test. Each time I protested, "But madam I assure you I'm not a Sanghi."
Eight years ago...
Watch! Watch! Watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aymrnzianf0
If you are a capitalist who believes that the greatest human endeavours can be commercialised, watch!
If you are a commie who just wants the world to burn, तो भी देख लो। Maybe the craft will crash and burn, brave astronauts will die, and you can feel smug, you despicable, horrible person.
What? We're going to let a Ladakhi write about Ladakh? Have all the other journalists died?
Listen to Ambassador Stobdan. He clearly knows too much about this subject.
When Thackeray does good things:
Me: Oh such a lovely man. Benefits of being an artist and photographer. So sensitive and empathetic.
When Thackeray does bad things:
Me: Hindutvawadi. True to his roots. Even his clothes are saffron now.
I am not balanced. I am दोगला. Mind it!
You know you want it
Congratulations! The conscience of the Supreme Court has woken up, 65 days into the lockdown. Rejoice!
This is so awkward. Facebook pulled a LinkedIn on me. Earlier today it uploaded my phone contact book and gave me a list of people I know on FB. It did not let me view the profiles of these people, just gave me a list. I sent them all a friend request and dozens of them have accepted also - and now I realise I don't know any of them. Awkward.
