I have been writing since high school and seriously since first year of college, and the writing trajectory had been spaced into several formats; research papers to begin with, punctuated with articles and essays and more recently poems. My writerly practice is undergirded by a sense to respond to the machinations of the world around us and to create a response to create awareness through criticism and feedback. While this might not seem very creative in a conventional manner in a statement of artistic pedagogy and I have not attended MFA school yet. The world through social media echo chambers are monologues and monolithic, and real informed Deep engagement to stand the test of the refreshed feed on Twitter. While my writing is self consuming and speaks to the chaotic immediacy of our times where digital, migration, urbanity and sustainability (all intertwined themes that I scribble on) are the mega trends of our times. Different formats in framing a response evoke a varied sentiment. All written art does not need to have the character of haute couture, but needs to have a story to narrate in a distinctive voice, one which I hope that I am on the way to carve. This is my first attempt to frame a philosophy of writerly practice.

In this data age, the resources with understanding will be rewarded, not surface level data, but insights which would add to Solutions and to the bottom line. Data means hardly anything if it can’t be monetised. Excess of data, means the reliance on search engines for access. Understanding and connecting the dots is more important. I have a sense that subject experts will be back with a vengeance, hitting the über generalists hard. We want safe and reliable systems right?

#digitalasmodern

Reading the Economist, helps me connect the dots such as this article about the Spaghetti Smugglers of the Sahara or ‘Why doesn’t mean always cheap’ in Africa’. Quality has a price and it is great to pay for quality analysis, and Economist is at the top of the pile along with HBR and FT.

#economistmagazine

When the sunset is better than the latest LED screen

When the iPhone is a miss

Something is wrong

The brain prompts

‘You can’t take the perfect sunset pic’

But, the soul is soaking in the serenity

Life needed to reclaimed

From digital

And lived on its own merits

Red Sparrows, a heroic spy thriller from Russia, where a former Ballerina, with the State run Bolshoy Company is injured by her Male compatriot, in a sinister ploy to remove her from the scene with a younger dancer. The character Dominika Igorov, is an angry woman, taking care of her sick mother. She is pushed in to the spy trade as a honey trap agent, by her Uncle, who is a senior SVR operative. Dominika played by the über talented Jennifer Lawrence, is caught in an American espionage ring between Moscow, Budapest, Vienna and Moscow. The heart of the visual narrative is the fine print of a visually appealing dancer, who is retrained in to a spy agent, to feed her mother and is a human actor in a Global power play. Lawrence carries every frame in the film on her slender but stoically firm shoulders. Spy thrillers cannot get better than this. The Bond/Bourne/Kings Man franchise is a notch below than Red Sparrows. Spy Craft preys into human vulnerability and feeds into realpolitik. The supporting cast of Russian characters and the American crew, including a familiar face from the House of Cards series, is competent. The visual mosaic is apt, but not overwhelming. This is a film which adds a layer to ones aesthetic vocabulary. The Tigers of the world have to relearn. Swag is in embodiment. Lawrence exemplifies it.

#redsparrowmovie

#changethinker

#moviereview

I write on a basket of issues; sustainability, digital, migration and urbanity. All of these themes are undergirded by a particular immediacy, and need

perennial conversations with the world around. I am piqued by social research methods, one subject I was not particularly interested in graduate school as I had a brutal tutor. But in real life, consulting, think tank research and non profit strategy, data poor environments mean research designs are most significant.

The entire Cambridge Analytica debacle was expected in the era of the hyper digital. Technology in smart phones with fast and cheap data makes connectivity ubiquitous. There is an entire generation who are digital natives, who type on keyboards on their cell phones faster then they can write. This strain however causes, laziness and a tendency to take the digital as a panacea. Office work takes place on Facebook messenger groups and families share updates. Facebook whether we like it or not is ‘second nature’ for many to connect, as it does not cost a dime. The flip side for the cost neutral communication is privacy, where quite a few people of us feel that ‘I am not important’ even if my data is sold off for less than innocent ends. The digital era, has made digital ethics and privacy lessons mandatory to people and organisations alike to recapture the space where they have ceded to social internet. Critical thinking is the intellectual first responder in these times.

Social media, runs on our data, and it is time that we understand the ramifications rather than get stunned by the artificial filter bubbles created by firms such as Cambridge Analytica as data is the new oil for these firms. Information warfare with Alt Facts in the Post Truth era is real. Sadly very few understand. The danger is even more real and present for knowledge sector firms such as professional services and media.

Prayers for Indians killed in Iraq. Migrant lives matter as millions of Indians seek a livelihood overseas to feed mouths back home in hostile environments. These are not the long distance Nationalism OCI types, who are fair weather friends at best. Remember the blue collar migrants from Punjab and Bengal who were killed.

Banglar Kantha as a community voice of the Bengali speaking diaspora in Singapore over the past decade has been spearheading efforts in delivering community support services and cultural empowerment. This massive effort is the brainchild of Shri. AKM Mohsin, who with his dogged determination to get the difficult story, has attracted his set of detractors which is usual for a community activist and journalist. You would not be doing your job as a journalist if you are too pally with the constituencies, one is reporting against. In the midst of this backdrop, Mohsin Bhai as he is affectionately known among well wishers, has worked on the best stories with prominent international media houses including the Washington Post. He was recently cited in a Straits Times OpEd by the Singaporean Prime Minister Lee, in welcoming the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sk. Hasina to the Lion City, as the locally run Bengali Language Paper. This is a testimony to the selfless work of Banglar Kantha to keep the Bengali language alive in the print discourse in Singapore. This is inspite the diaspora rather than with the support of the elite within the community, as Banglar Kantha is the voice of the subaltern migrant rather than a tabloid for the kitty parties of the diaspora elite. Grit, takes sacrifice and the underlying ethos of Mohsin Bhai is of service, which is truly one of a kind. I wish Banglar Kantha all the power, in the days ahead. Cholte Thako!

In order to think the so called out of the box, first define the box. We live in an age of Alt Facts and Post Truth, where the secular data point is twisted beyond recognition. Knowledge of the boundary conditions of the ‘Box’, helps us to detect bias. Too many of us shallow jargons and theories in a lazy manner, be it in engineering or in the social sciences. Thinking of the cognitive limitations, is the most hardest as it means jostling with our assumptions and thus the mighty educated ego. We all wish to feel good,however this is not the best mental state to learn. Vulnerability and Humility are starting points to authentic conversations with the Self and hence the community and the wide discourse. There is too little talk on authentic learning in the choppy waters of the corporate sector, where learning is ‘competitive advantage’ to score brownie points in meetings. But learning is emancipation in the truest sense. The Foucaudian perspective ‘Knowledge is Power’ is relevant but learning only takes place where existing assumptions are cracked open. Too much real insights are locked in exclusive networks of power.