The migrant culture scene in Singapore and Malaysia has boomed and is indeed very vibrant with amazing talents. A lot of them are known to me and have taught me resilience. The ‘low skill migrant’ as a case for celebration is however problematic sans interrogation. If one extrapolates these lessons globally, migrants need legal aid … More Real Issues not Theatre
Without sponsors, mentors and souls willing to support us in our journey to support them, one cannot do anything substantial as every phenomenon, organisation and profession is a network of capital and idea flows. This is something not taught enough in college, as the same professor that one hates, offers a great interview tip a … More Network Flows
A few evenings back, I sat in a cab shuttling between malls, when I flagged down a cab which was driven by Salman, a massive Bollywood buff. When he heard that I was from Mumbai (my passport address is a Navi Mumbai one at least, a bureaucratic anchor for a fluid identity at best) he … More Conversations with Cabbies: Muscat Edition
A prolonged conversation on migrant workers with an old friend, based in SE Asia ignited a part of my life which I have parked by the side at this bend of my life. I worked on migrant worker issues for a research think tank in Singapore and am associated remotely with Mohsin Malhar Bhai on … More Lived Experience Matters
Theorists hope for A Post (Post1,Post2…..Postn) A line of iterative code is easier To write Reality is a complex of complex adaptive systems Power flows not through the power bank But through your Apple Pay Spoken word social media poetry Packages feels Everything however Is a backhand coping mechanism At best And lame auto play … More Post Reality
The problem with millennial low income is a resultant of a perception trap; Instagram worthy life, ‘Eat Pray Love’ mindset, work life balance and retire early as if work is jail and not something productive. There will be no post capitalist utopia, and free lunches (apart from a privileged few), head back to good old … More Get Real.
On a beach, over mishkak, paaya slowly cooked over three hours and piping hot milk tea or doodh wali chai, the subcontinent converged over a warm meal under the winter moon in the Gulf. The event catalyst was from Lucknow, the Paaya was made by a boutique owner from old Delhi, who has been to … More Chai on the Beach
Failure frees Shackles broken White Space created Unlocks potential While learning from past bloopers Who said then falling/failing is terrible?
Some months back, a former colleague had an issue with my chai pictures, saying that these were irritating. Chai is not only a volatile drink, of flavour and of character as Aditi Sriram writes in her interview with Playright Ayad Akhter in Guernica in 2014, it is a distinctive sense of home for the migrant … More Chai as Migrant Metaphor
Blank spaces Road blocks Are dead ends Ripples of failure Flutter These are starts Growth Starts from nowhere
