Reasons to love Delhi (again)

This is a Work-in-Progress list that will get updated as and when yours truly has a moment of doting fondness for the city where, among other things, she was born, brought up and groped.

• The pink coloured vikram that has 'Dekh mat pagli, pyar ho jayega' as its bumper sticker.
• The stories I have already eavesdropped on, with three days of stepping out - one of them was to do with someone trying to remember their past life while being 'hypnotised'.
• The campus. The iced tea. The coffee sprinkled with cocoa powder.
• Trying to park in a clearly demarcated no-parking zone, being told not to by the security guard even though other cars are also flouting the rule because in his words, they belong to the Judge sahab and CEO sahab.
• The possibility of having an office space in the Statesman House. However remote.
• The scribbling on the newly white-washed walls of CP, advertising for 'Tel Maalish'.
• The fares demanded by auto-wallahs, that now seem reasonable to a person who thinks of herself as partially belonging to the land of the worst auto drivers.
• The conversations between Very Fancy People at restaurants located in Important Cultural Hubs about National Events of Importance that sound like gossip about friends, relatives and acquaintances.
• The Delhi metro and the city's unrelenting attitude of 'Have space, will use it'. Even a hitherto nondescript metro station (INA) can, over a year, when you didn't check in, be transformed into an important interchange. Or be used as a commercial space with mushrooming offices and co-working spaces.
• The feeling of being 'settled in' when a 40 minute metro ride starts looking like a short commute again.

Blog B-Day

It's the sixth B-Day of the blog and the poor thing has been sitting ignored for a while. No longer. This blog gets active this week! With less self censoring! And probably ever more limited readership!

I told a bunch of people I will write a book in five years so now I have to at least try.

Re this post, I have now realised that reading everything on everything is impossible when you have a full-time job, a love for fan-fiction and everything frivolous, and live in this current era.

Hence I have decided my areas of interest are:

1. Indian agriculture
2. Renewable energy 
3. Macro-economics  
4. International politics

Of News and Other Stuff S02 E05

• I can't seem to lie to younger people about the supposed lameness of the work they (we) do. Which must be a problem if I want to rise up the ladder. So much of our work depends on morale after all, and inspiring people to carry on with the necessary drudgery.
• I am sick and tired of the development sector positing women's empowerment as necessary to advance overall development goals. Increase women's participation in the workforce for greater economic growth. Provide women with nutrition/ education because feeding/ educating the woman means feeding/ educating the entire family. Play on the family's overarching concern about the women's izzat to further sanitation goals. Gender equality is important because it's a 'smart development strategy' (World Bank Gender Strategy, 2016-23). It's annoying that the welfare of half of the world's population only matters to the extent that it benefits 'everyone'. And by everyone, I definitely mean men.
• There is an actual World Bank guidance note that puts it out there that construction workers are young males and labour influx on account of new investment projects can lead to inappropriate and criminal behaviour from these men against local women and girls. See here. There does not seem to be any associated evidence given in favour of such a position.
• There is an Indian task fulfillment app called Dunzo, and is currently being supported by Google to raise funding. I am proud that a presumably lazy person with a love for Parks and Rec is doing so well. 

Musings @ 3 am

• I am 95% sure I hate my job.
• Cold Thai curry tastes just as good as hot Thai curry.
• I remember all the lyrics of the songs from Rang De Basanti.
• SRK in Swades is my all-time favourite SRK. SRK in Main Hoon Na is my all time favourite SRK film.
• I can't believe the kind of crap SRK pulls now. Vis-a-vis what he is capable of.
• To be fair, Aamir is apparently still doing good movies. But I seem to have lost interest in him too.

News and other Stuff S02 E04

The universally disliked role model? Yup, total bitch.
Still want to be like her though.

The government has asked TV channels to not show condom ads because they are apparently indecent and can lead to...'unhealthy practices' among children. Like safe sex?

When do upper caste people realise their privilege? Does it happen when their national dailies announce that courts are still handing out death sentences to people still killing their son in laws for being dalit and falling in love with girls who are not Dalit?

I have no idea what is happening on Padmavati. But you can't be hopeful when a sitting CM says that a film is not worth the trouble if it hurts the sentiments of a caste.
The only thing that surprises me in this case is my continued flare up of anger at this attitude towards freedom of expression. It also kind of ensures I will watch the movie, bad trailer or not.

Our policy making is now being influenced by private/religious foundations with the NITI Aayog pursuing Sadhguru's agenda of river revival. Which in this case seems inoffensive, even as the precedent may be worrying.

I was reading through what I thought was the Hindu, but was almost taken aback by the editorialising (and the terrible writing style). Of course, that's when I bothered to look at the masthead. What else, but the Times of India?