Loss is not only material in the post truth world, where the flux is a feature and not a bug, as naïveté suggests. As flux is a feature in capitalism as chaos is an ingrained trait, finding an anchoring in this precarious platform era is a challenge, and it not in narratives of resilience or learning where the anchoring imbues itself, it is in the things which matter to us, as anomie and alienation is real, and meaning itself is the fuel to restoration. The glitz is hollow, as the shimmer stays for a while.

Every time someone sounds a pre emptive obituary of the professional services space due to AI, i have a counter proposition, with the gig-fication of the white collar workforce, there would be an increase of the use of professional services firms, where the size would be smaller and more specialist.

A generation of SE Asians grew up on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Mohabbatein, and a swathe of Malaysians singing along Bollywood tracks in the most happening public intersection in Kuala Lumpur on a Saturday night fills the soul.

Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions havre tremendously add of Indian Soft Power. Cinematic Geopolitics in the times of great flux. The musical performance next to an entrance of the Bukit Bintang LRT, neighbouring a cluster of Chinese brands on the Main Street including the Chagee Flagship Store, yet the tunes of Mohabatein persist through the air and in the hearts of Malaysians. SRK was given a Dato-ship from Melaka after the resounding popularity of the Don Franchise, which was filmed in Malaysia.

Selamat Hari Deepawali/ Deepawali Nal Valthukkhal

As a child of the Indian Ocean Diaspora, it fascinates me to read/observe festivities as a cultural register of resilience and resistance, as many Malaysian Indians whether Tamizh or Sikh are fourth generation, have never been to Madurai or Amritsar for Pilgrimage and yet are rooted in an Indian-ness which is seen on Deepawali, which is my third in a row here.

The Mukukku or Mysore Pak on Deepawali takes on a salience in spaces which are a negotiation of a diaspora identity in a post colonial sense.

An absolute honor to have attended the 1st India-ASEAN Strategic Dialogue in Kuala Lumpur organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the India Foundation.

As a Southeast Asianist, it gives me great joy to see India engage with the ASEAN, where i have invested a quarter of my life so far.

Thank you to Dr Yanitha Meena Louis, PhD for the kind invitation!

A truly outstanding level of discourse, with the best minds in the business of diplomacy.

#ASEANIndiaStrategicDialogue

At the heart of all ESG, BHR and Sustainability interventions is social licence to operate aka trust in a post truth world.

Trust is very pricey in the era of great wars and tariffs, and no longer tick box for the construction permit.

Life in the diaspora is a flicker of feeds
A life that is postponed on a Google Calendar
Like my Father said, i will do it when i retire
Now he enjoys Pujo, but i am absent
The Rial becomes the Ringitt
The Dollar Peg of Life Continues