Footnotes and citations are not possible every time one writes anything as ‘the field’ is the basis of understanding of a phenomenon. I understand that the political economy of knowledge production is based on citations, but let’s not limit understanding to that particular framing. Migration can’t be studied by literature review and secondary press articles. … More Foot prints rather than Foot notes
Reading Prof Devika Charla’s book on Performance and Post Coloniality resonates with me as writing is deeply personal and performance. I started writing in the first year of engineering from a place of insecurity and a feeling of breaking out dominated my thoughts as I was an uncomfortable engineering student in Muscat weighed down by … More Intertwined Memories
Complicated yet incomplete, Is sometimes the outcome it is The incomplete corners The reflected selves The unvarnished post office brings The one in the mirror Authenticity Faked And yet searching The kernel of rawness In the midst of the day Connect with the lost self Lost somewhere Not searchable
History first repeats as tragedy, then as farce. Before ‘acknowledging’ independence, from the Brit’s. India had to undergo a surgery to satisfy Nehru ji’s ego- millions killed, raped and injured and displaced so that demographics get inverted. Punjab and Bengal get slaughtered and the post colonial ramifications are felt in 2018 through the NRC debate, … More History as Farce.
Numbers have a story to tell. 80 months back, I started writing on a regular basis in Singapore on this ideation platform. After constant negative feedback and setbacks- this has been my primary repository of ‘dispersed meditations’ along my travels across eight years, three countries, five cities and numerous other places. The field notes have … More 20K.
With all the Filter bubble discourse on the digital, one feels very poignant about little less conversation, little more action please. Sustainability, Climate Change, Diversity have been emptied out of the ethos of social justice and packaged in to MICE categories, where TED talk like conferences substitute reading and thinking which should be done in … More Sustainability: Time for real conversations
Majulah! Watching the anthem being sung at the Padang on an IPhone on Facebook live during lunch (as Muscat is four hours behind). #NDP2018
Happy Birthday Singapore! From Tuas West to Changi Beach and from CCK to Esplanade , it is an exemplar of progress. Having worked and studied at NUS and NTU, Singaporean education and training has enabled me able to work on a diverse set of challenges across geographies in Asia. I spent many a NDP watching … More Majulah!
I am quoted generously in The Gaurdian’s Long Read on Ad Duqm by Urbanist Wade Shepard: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/06/five-years-ago-there-was-nothing-inside-duqm-the-city-rising-from-the-sand-oman-city-sand-luxury-hotels-housing Happy Reading!
Chatting in Awadhi with Ram jee from Banki. Small joys of life. From his upbringing in Mumbai to life as a laundry professional in Dubai and Muscat, he is a treasure trove of wisdom, and you would not have to be conventionally educated for that. Although all his three kids are in good schools and … More Conversations with Migrants
