Sunday Posts

I am a lifelong learner. I became serious about learning only after I left college. In fact, my 'conversion' came much later in life, once I left my comfort zone, migrated to another country and went back to college, first with an instrumental objective to get a qualification but eventually for learning.  I grew up a Brahmin in India. My upbringing was traditional. I was surrounded by books, music and theatre, but no one was talking about going back to college at a late age. It was not 'learning' but self-cultivation that I saw. My grandfather, in his eighties and with fading eyesight would still read, by holding the books very close to his eyes - that is the image I carried in my head. We would have guests from town (we lived in the suburb) on some Sundays, when the best cutlery would come out and we would eat on the dining table, talking about cultural events around us. However, though my father taught English Literature at a local college, there was no hint of academ...

  How long does it take for a country's media to go from unquestioning celebration of youth to reviling it? Not long, it seems in India, as all the celebration of Gen Z turned sour as some people started asking questions that the media didn't. The generational labelling is an imported practice from America that Indians embraced enthusiastically. It makes no sense, as the Indian history didn't follow the same path. For example, the equivalent of the silent generation - people born between 1928 and 1945 and lived in the shadows of their parents (the greatest generation, who fought the war) and their children (the baby boomers, who prospered) - would be the generation that built the Indian republic, the heroic ones. However, somehow the Indians like to believe that the world is flat, or at least, it has gotten flat since the 1990s. Therefore, Gen Z was celebrated as the herald of brilliance and prosperity, the generation that would lead India to the 'developed country'...

  Careers are no more. Like the one my father used to have. Or the one I aspired for. The rituals of entering, the legitimate peripheral participation followed by genteel progression into the inner circle, marked by ever greater material possessions and social prestige - they are no longer real. But the idea of a career is the cornerstone of middle class life. In fact, it is middle class life. From the start - choice of school, grades, university ranking, traineeships - to the end, the dreams of retirement, putting one's children on the same path, the middle class life arc is a projection of mid-twentieth century career. How many young men I met who have been inspired to study law after watching The Suits? They are all inspired by Mike, they say. Yet, Mike is post-career, a hustling entrepreneur more than a lawyer. If they want a career path of the sort law schools offer, ...

 I am at that point in life that all I want is quiet. There is a certain sweetness in failure. A life I started has come to an end; definite, irrevocable end. First time, this end is not about a beginning. I always feared this, but having arrived, I feel what Kundera called an unbearable lightness. What burden did I lose? I guess it is my former self. Bounded forever by my upbringing, the crushing sense of responsibility coupled with a liberal faith in infinite improvability of others. From over the edge of life, I see how I got things mixed up: My grandfather's generation carried the responsibility because everyone else did, my father's generation believed in improvability because the going was good. But, at the same time, my grandfather would have believed only a few, distinguished by character, deserved attention; my father's generation would not have assumed the responsibility for others.  Losing the faith is like losing myself. I have been a coalition-builder; somewhat...

A conversation with a self-avowed right-wing (and Trump admiring) friend made me think what I really think is wrong with America's Iran war. But let me start by acknowledging the differences of our political standpoints first.  First, my friend thinks that America's military might is enormous and it has the ability, and therefore the right, to shape the world in its image. I do not think that America's might is limitless, and it has been proven many times over, in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. It has largely failed to shape the world in its image, and therefore, it should be more circumspect about getting involved in foreign wars. Second, he also thinks that Iranian regime was repugnant, which has killed tens of thousands of its citizens, and should therefore be overthrown. My view is more nuanced on this: I do not believe what the mainstream media (like the BBC says) and I don't follow Persian channels to balance the English language narratives. Therefore, I am not 10...

 I am trying to ascertain what historical moment we are living through. Should we compare this with 27th May 1905, the  Battle of Tsushima, the moment when the anti-colonial self-confidence emerged in Asia? That an underdog - Japan then, Iran now - can win in an assymetric battlefield is an important lesson. Iran hasn't really won, or can win, but that it did not submit easily will count. This would change the calculus of the alliances: An Arab leader today would be circumspect about its alliances now. Whatever started after Saddan Hussain's invasion of Kuwait would now end. Of course, the United States can destroy Iran with its superior firepower, but it can only do so at a great cost. Bringing all its firepower in the Middle East may open the space for China in South China sea, and even Russia in Europe, and indeed, this could spiral into a world at war. I am hoping that won't come to pass, a situation when no one would win. But if Marco Rubio was lecturing the European l...