DeMo was a watershed event in contemporary history, as millions were impacted and the nation was split in to two over the nationalists who thought it was a silver bullet and independent observers such as me who were against the shock doctrine madness that was DeMo. I covered the event from day zero till yesterday when … More DeMo Diaries: Catharsis
Every few kilometres in the regions outside Muscat region there are petrol pumps aligned to a eatery and a Masjid. This configuration repeats pretty much everywhere. #weekendhistorian
Remaking is happening We live in an era of great churn TUNA is not the name of a fish Hunger and unemployment prevail But are paranoid with narratives Data is more important, than underground sewage networks The stink is everywhere Uncertainty is the term of the times
It’s not everyday, when you feature in a documentary (in the first few frames) on Ad Duqm in Oman by the incredible Wade Shepherd @wade_shepard , Author, Writer, Film Maker and Globe Trotter. Thank you Wade for the solidarity and generosity. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iWKchegTdUY
Histories in the Gulf are hardly bottom up as state led/dominated discourses lead the landscapes of the past. My conversations series with cabbies and now with migrants attempts to recover these silences, about to be lost memories. Migrants in the Gulf are a practical lot, they are interested in earning their riyal and counting their … More Capturing Oral Histories of the Gulf: Narratives of Development
I came across this topic of the Lebanese diaspora in Senegal when the Late Anthony Bourdain had interviewed a Senegalese Citizen of Lebanese Descent on an episode on Dakar in this seminal TV series Parts Unknown. This book is something I stumbled across after it was cited in an Global Urban History article on Dakar … More Lebanese Diaspora
Why do we have to wait for death in order to shower respect often as a technicality When we don’t remember them while they are ill or retired Or read their works again The artist gets a new life Hagiography that are hollow To fill up feeds or airtime Remember them for their politics Their … More Afterlife
The real numbers are higher as donations by NRI are not being accounted for in the normal numbers, informal social networks are more Impacting than official channels as in the case of the Gulf; through the community association, the church and the masjid. The overall numbers will be much higher. I have seen many Indian … More Kerala Gulf Relief
An abandoned dream A lost job An unfulfilled aspiration Unsold artefacts Find home in the street
Environmental governance is a tick box measure in India and in the Global South. The ‘permit kahan hain’ mindset of the industry hinders proactive resilience building which essentially environmental compliance and justice is at its genesis. Yesterday it was Uttarakhand, today it is friends in Kerala and Mumbai suffers every year. And yes, Sustainability spends … More Environmental Governance is Political Risk: Kerala Drowns
