Just another blog!

This is a question that is on almost everyone’s mind following the horrific attacks on Paris last weekend. It’s a question that most people can’t answer, and neither can I. I will, however, try to make the best sense of what happened. Some gunmen attacked Paris, and left over 150 dead and over 300 wounded. I remember the sense of horror and confusion that I felt at the time of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Yet, during the time of the attacks, I was over two hundred kilometres away from Mumbai, safe in the city of Nashik. With any terrorist attack, there is always the spectacle , the theatrics that are the scariest. Ten people with guns caught an entire country off-guard for three days. Three days of not knowing how many people were responsible, or why we were attacked. And so, I can empathise with the people in Paris. I may be speaking from a position of privilege here, and I really don’t know how it feels to be a person who has lost a loved one to a senseless...

Supporting a cause on Facebook is the way to go, unless of course, the cause is endorsed by the Prime Minister of India, in which case, either you are an angel or a devil, depending on your political leanings. Recently, the Prime Minister met Mark Zuckerberg, and asked people to change their profile pictures to be overlaid with a tricolour and a network representing digital connectivity. As you can probably tell from my Facebook profile page , I changed my picture. Then stuff hit the fan. Apparently, buried in the code was a reference to , a contentious business venture by Facebook to provide ‘free’ internet to poor people in India. Apparently, what Facebook wants to do is provide Facebook for free, which allows Facebook to tap into a demographic that has since eluded it, and which will also prevent competitors from opening up shop in India – we won't have our own Renren . Now, I support net neutrality, but I don't think that internet.org is about net neutrality. A big co...

Ever since the Snowden leaks – and even before them – we've been hearing the word ‘Orwellian’ to describe the state of surveillance we're living under. But what exactly does the word ‘Orwellian’ mean? What was George Orwell so afraid of and that he cautioned us against? Reading two of his definitive books – ‘Nineteen Eighty-four’ and ‘Animal Farm’ – I cannot believe that Orwell was afraid of increasing surveillance. I believe that Orwell was afraid of something more. In the world described in ‘Nineteen Eighty-four’, constant, never-ending surveillance is only tiny part – a means to an end. The end what is scarier. Moreover, I refuse to believe that the word ‘Orwellian’ should be used to describe just one tiny component of one novel written. No, I believe that the description should apply to a broader concept. I believe that to understand the term ‘Orwellian’, one must look to the earlier story – ‘Animal Farm’. Indeed, I think that ‘Animal Farm’ really sets the stage for t...

At some point, we stopped telling the stories we used to tell. We used to tell stories that evoked a sense of wonder, a sense of the infinite possibilities out there, both for us as persons and for mankind. Now, we tell stories of mundane people involved in everyday tasks. I've been watching a lot of ‘Star Trek’ recently. I started watching the original series two years ago, then switched to ‘The Next Generation’, and now back to the original series. The contrast is stark. While the original series really spoke of the endless possibilities once we reached space, and interstellar travel; TNG really dealt with socio-political issues of the day. In a sense, TNG was really the story of the world in the 1990s, set in the twenty-fourth century. Maybe my wistful longing for the 60s can be attributed to the allure of nostalgia so poignantly described in ‘Midnight in Paris’; however I think this is unlikely. To my mind, the 60s were the epitome of an optimistic thinking that hasn...

Ever since William Deresiewicz appeared on The Colbert Report, I've wanted to read his book "Excellent Sheep: The miseducation of America's elite and the path to a meaningful life". I finally managed to get my hands on the book (thanks to Cornell's excellent library system, which includes BorrowDirect). Having got my hands on the book, I had to read it, and found myself agreeing with everything Deresiewicz said in the first 10 pages or so. After that, my reaction was rather of the WTF type. Deresiewicz does a good job explaining how the Ivy leagues got to this current level of snobbery that they stand at right now. He explains how the admissions procedure was constantly tweaked to make them an old boys' club. How the SATs were implemented as a method to bring some sanity to the admissions procedure. How admissions committees mercilessly demand higher and higher (and frankly unrealistic) levels of excellence from students, and how the rich boys' club ha...

I'm trying really hard to finish this article before midnight. Because midnight will end this rather special month. Thanks to BoingBoing , I realised that this month marks the seventh anniversary of the seventh book in the Harry Potter Series, which was released in the seventh month of the seventh year in the new millennium. As Caroline Siede points out, our generation has been shaped and defined by Harry Potter. Yeah, I've had my fair share of a love-hate relationship with Harry Potter. I've even blogged about how I dislike the series in the past, something that, I always joke, lost me five friends on Facebook. And yet it is Harry Potter that shaped my adolescent years, just as Enid Blyton shaped my childhood years. Harry Potter, for us who grew up in the middle of it all, is much more than ever could be for those who came after us, those who never have felt the anticipation of waiting for the next book to be published, while dreaming up their fates, and being disappoin...

That the BJP led NDA won this general election came as no surprise. However, the fact that the BJP itself got enough votes to (in theory) form the government single handedly did catch me off guard. Turns out that the only exit poll that got it right was Today's Chanakya, a poll I regret having scoffed at. I was giddy with excitement having read the numbers and trends that appeared within hours since the counting process began. I'm not that politically inclined, and rarely voice my opinion on a platform which invites people who are wrong. Nevertheless, I cannot resist commenting on the biggest democratic event in the history of the world. There are, however, a number of trends that can be observed in this election. Chief amongst them is an anti-incumbency sentiment, and a pro-Modi wave. What's the reason for the pro-Modi wave? Why is it that I, even though I've never visited Gujarat, rooted for him as PM for the past five years? Looking back, I honestly have no an...