There are writing projects which have staggered from 2012, with these projects piling up into massive amounts of field notes over the years. In 2017 I managed to complete a poetry collection, which is on my laptop somewhere unpublished, hoping to get a publisher or an agent to read it.

The original book project has metamorphosed into different forms, but the spine remains the same- a non fiction narrative in to the travels and the conversations of a migrant, who calls the various neighbourhoods in 4 cities, kind of home, if not the idea of it. I am fascinated by how the margins of the city, helm the core- the taxiwallah, the auto wallah, the corner store, the eatery and the stories from their journeys- the family from North Bengal running a thela in Gurgaon or the Lucknowi Barber in Muscat to the Dhobiwallah in Bur Dubai, these are visible people with muted voices restricted to the transaction.

The role of the digital and how the margins negotiate the technology in their lived experience to articulate and emote is essential as well as charming. The ability to network for their micro businesses on their smart phones has increased the ability to seek information that was previously the preserve of the intellectual or the bureaucratic realm.

I interviewed a series of autowallahs during 2012-13 in Mumbai during the construction of the metro in Saki Naka, Andheri area and the most insightful of feedback on urban infrastructure was garnered.

But, who will capture these voices? On the other hand, is the migrant in the GCC is ever asked his opinion.

The act of writing is indulgence but also of representation. In this hyper data era, how we write matters, as it will take no time to convert words in to the black box of the digital archive.

Migration of the middle class or the professional classes has been a theme undergirding major literary works such as Suketu Mehta’s new work, Mohsin Hamid and Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island.

More than Digital Humanities, Migration Humanities as a genre should be formalised as Diaspora literature is a window into the multi local experience.

Now where are the low income/low skill migrant voices ? Is the task of representation laced with socioeconomic privilege?

Hence MD Sharif and Mukul’s work with the deep organising and community engagement of Mohsin Malhar Da stands out as a breach in the ivory tower.

A lot of Bengali Muslims over the years have been working in Maharashtra along with other states right down to Kerala and also in the NCR belt. I have encountered with them in Gurgaon and now in Pune. I wonder if some academics study internal migration patterns. These data points also point to the lack of work done by successive regimes in Bengal for the Muslim community. So much for secularism in rhetoric as the so called appeasement has not worked, and has led to Hindu en mass voting in 2019 and there might be a BJP government at Writers in 2021

Had a conversation with a chatty Autowallah, who was in full sale mode with an attitude to overcharge on the pretext of Navratri. He was however critical of an old strongman from western Maharashtra, and very pro Modi, as he finds graft at the local level especially in hospitals reduced. ‘Na khauungaa, Na Kaanedunga’ seems to have found a particular resonance for the urban working class, who still access public services. The Maharashtra polls are around the corner and polls seems to be an academic exercise in democracy.

Modi ji’s Overseas outreach with the optics finds leverage with his domestic audience as confidence building, something which commentators in Khan Market or Soho or Central Park would not gauge with their taxi driver journalism.

Ghuen Tak.

#War is a masala YRF phillum in the same cinematic space such as the Tiger Franchise. The film is an opulent Spy movie with Hrithik and Tiger, almost an ode to the oomph of the two actors on the screen. 

The movie is uncreative, and is a melange of action set pieces lifted off a catalogue of Hollywood movies from the Mission Impossible films to the Bond series. 

As a bollyholic, the movie has instances identical to Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai, which is even by YRF non standards poor. 

The movie is held together by an one actor act, Mr. Roshan is in fine form and a treat for the heteronormative female gaze.

Adi on the other hand, get your creative juices flowing.

This Pujo, as usual I observe the festivities from Japan to Joburg to the Valley, on social media feeds, i realise how the Global Techie Educated Affluent Calcutta Bong, creates these anchors in the probash to feel rooted.

I have very little attachment to the Pujo, given my rather mobile existence over the past decade and a half. However a sociological essay is due from the Aantels, on the Global Diasporic Pujo Industry. It shall be a good read.

The Taste of Home. Sabudana Khichadi being served during the Navratri season, symbolises the syncretic texture of Dubai, especially Al Fahidi. 

There is a prominent Shia Masjid next door as well.

Dreams have to be deeply sheltered

Dreams make the scaffolding of the future

Energy of those early morning ruminations

Dreams disappear

Reappear as material reality

Dreams are the josh of life

In the depths

Clarity emerges

Like a sharp beam

That projects into the future

Sharjah based Egyptian Architectural Researcher Reem Khorshed, who Studies Modernity and influence of Egyptian experts in the education and Infrastructure sector development in the Khaleej/Gulf. She spoke at the uber cultural Art Jameel in Dubai.

She digs archives and Arabic media sources and masterplan documents to shape her research journey towards understanding the trajectory of Misr-Khaleeji relationship.

Such evenings about the sheer engagement with the life of ideas in Dubai is a welcoming change. Life is not a timesheet.