It seems from the sustainability fraternity as can be captured from the discourse, narratives and conversations in the digital realm that it is all about meta climate change and finance linked adaptation and associated instruments. The hype from climate change related events, usually PR gigs and the financialization of the climate change narrative, at a global level does a massive disservice to the nuance of climate change itself; impact in the everyday lived experience of people . Legal drivers do more good for climate change at the level of the nation state compelling organisations and communities to adapt them all the nudge through fancy ted talks. More structural drivers towards behaviour and action and less talk. No amount is of youth conferences will help in combating extreme weather events and it has been a hot year this summer. The onus is responsibility at the individual level will be transform structural deficits. Make people lose money and then watch the wheel of change move.

I welcome RIL to the higher education space as the Jindal’s, Nadar’s or even Ashoka are in the game as well. The criticism of the institutes of excellence tag is like a Bollywood award show where the award is purchased with clout. India is a land of ‘Sifarishilals’ hence RIL or Jio University is no different, hence I don’t buy much in to that reasoning. The economic might of RIL can be a game changer in education. People with money have always influenced the course in education in a neoliberal system. Humanities and Social Science Folks mocking the fracas on social media will be the first in the queue to apply for a rare well paid faculty position in India or even an endowed faculty chair.

My hair stylist friend from western Uttar Pradesh, commented that the other colleague has refused to rejoin work as he wants to get married and he won’t get any more leave as they get leave, once in two years and due to visa issues, it is hard to get replacements. I asked him, will he get suitable employment back home?

My friend commented with an air of confidence: ‘we get barber work anywhere we walk in, as there are not too many. It is the educated that they find it difficult to get work. We walk with our bag and get going.’

Take life as it comes.

#karakchaitales

After binge watching 8 episodes of Sacred Games on Netflix (a personal record of sorts as the last series I watched was The House of Cards in Singapore) it was can be Saifly said, that the Nawab is a polished actor, more suited towards nuanced roles and Sartaj Singh is one. The series is so refreshing, reminds me of Bombay Blue on Star Plus many stars ago. Neeraj Kabi and Nawaz are an acting Tour De Force.

The karak chai shops, serve not only the milky, sweet brew which is the gulf version of doodh wali chai, in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The south Asian Male worker diaspora regales in each sip as if reclaiming home, and life in a way. These shops are liminal spaces, and in between between the public and private, gossiping away work tales after hours, in native tongues while sweltering away in the balmy summer evenings. The truck driver from Pindi and the restaurant manager from Mumbai share an unlikely space, while the Bangladeshi supermarket assistant from Chandpur banters with a hair stylist from Banki in Uttar Pradesh. Colonial India gets mapped in these realms with paper cups and plastic chairs as post colonial South Asia dissolves over various versions of Urdu/Hindi infected with Bangla, Malayalam and Punjabi. The humble chai in a paper cup creates common spaces for banter which Track 2 dialogues often fail to succeed. This is a fleeting kinship of belonging fuelled by ambitions of feeding mouths back home.

The contradictory richness of migrant life, having makan made by a cook from Pindi, comprising of paratha made in Pakistani Punjabi way, while watching India Today TV online while a nonsensical debate on the cross border strike. Human existence is complex and textured, and does not even remotely adhere to the straightjacket binaries the news mill feeds us. In a few years, the mainstream will be cornered and independent voices on low pitch will matter a lot more.

Is the migrant life for me, mainstream as I have been a migrant since I begun recognising life as a child. Then what is home and what is foreign?

The flooding in Mumbai is a yearly affair, so it is nothing significant of note. Lives will be lost, properties impacted and concocted tales of positivity such as the resilience of the Mumbai played on loop. It is a heartless and soulless city of survivors who will take on anything to keep the meter ticking. From 11th July to 26th July, these dates will be etched in our environmental history as milestones of infamy. Everyone knows the problem, and the solution too. Before making cities smart and digital, cleaning sewers and fixing potholes is the smartest thing to do. And no climate resilience action plan is needed from MIT. The devolution of greater powers to the Mayor with authority to sign the checks is a good measure as a modest start. Climate resilient infrastructure is a multi year effort on various hierarchies as Mumbai is a city of Migrant dreams and a floating population with the ethnic community of the state a minority. Politics is more than roads, and it needs a different policy configuration for the Maximum City. Unbashed Development killed the Mithi River and the various natural eco tones in Thane. The next news cycle on PeeCee and Jonas will wash these thoughts away as well.

#climatechange

In the atomised hyper neo liberal AI hypercharged era, every employee has to be a value creator aka bring money on the table. The founder is not the only custodian of the risk arbitrage. Now the problem is- most of the education we get at college makes us risk averse and seeking the public sector gig, which is limited. Folks in West Bengal preparing for NET please note, there is a life outside government exams; May a starting off at a market research company or KPI shall help. YouTube is not for Cat Videos only. The gravity of text is passé in our online streaming MOOC generation.

The nature of the future of work is changing the very foundations of society as we rush through MRT or at the back of our share cab, invested in playing the latest game on our tab. Easy access to data is killing critical thinking which will replace your job by automation. The world is getting dumber by googling it. Privacy, Information bubbles, Information search skills and validation, creeping in on our lazy habits of copy and paste from the mail to writing lines of code to constructing poor arguments is only making the current employment crop very replaceable. The tsunami called future of work is knocking and most are plugged in on their headphones, not able to process the noise.

Coping from failure and relearning are the top skills for the future. Is someone preparing a course, to reskill for the AI era?

Dr Arvind Subramanian changed the terrain of the Economic Survey report. I thoroughly enjoyed the topical essays and the GIS based data collection and Analytics. I sat beside him at a book launch in Delhi 16 months back and he was down to earth and rather communicative. India loses talent one by one.

The urban politics of AAP as an alternative vision is dead. Revolutions die as usual in internal power games. It elects jokers to the Rajya Sabha where it had the opportunity to send activists to the upper house. YY and Prashant Bhushan where the intellectual consciousness of the movement. Every one knew that NCR is a half state. Now it is the Delhi Kejriwal Sanghathan. I hope it loses all 7 seats in Delhi next year. It is a betrayal of public trust.