Bovanto from Madurai, a local Tamil Nadu soft drink is popular in the diaspora from Dubai to Singapore in particular Chettinadu restaurant chains. Counter culture is needed for region centred brands which in the global era, is challenging as economies of scale play a role. Tamil Nadu has a strong regional culture, cash and a global diaspora which catapult’s them beyond the limitations of a local clientele. Transnational is often hyper local.

One of the reasons, green washing is prevalent is due to the number of marketing chaps leading sustainability functions of companies, rather than ecologists and engineers who know the science. Climate Change will be addressed by science not by #ESG hash tags. #greenwashing

Never over professionalise anything, it only means that you have created a SOP out of a thing which used to have a soul.

Social media or the realm of the digital whether we like it or not, is a part of lives receiving a special attention in this pandemic as our interactions have moved online even within the city.

We crib about non travel, but have we traveled enough in our cities?

I have not, but there are places where we can visit, the non places.

This pic is from a time when travel within the global city was possible.

These are non places that are transnational.

Travel within.

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Calcutta and Bengal’s greatest contemporary export is intellectual (wo)manpower as a talent pipeline to western liberal arts university campuses and in turn to the progressive media worldwide.
This is implicit and underrated. Just read through the surnames across the websites.

Miss the karak chai, in a pakistani or malbari paratha tea shop in Bur Dubai or in Ruwi on the red and white tiled tables, where ARY or Asianet would be showing a cricket game or news on full blast. I would be at the corner table soaking in the chatter. Soon, Inshallah.

Rethinking a lot of things of late with the spate of deaths of mentors to family. What a brutal time, an unforgiving time.

Getting back to the fundamentals, as i turn 35 next month.

There is a difference between a cultural insider and a ‘tourist-academic’. How can we contribute to our communities who are vulnerable, in a material sense which can remediate the sense of predatory mining of pathos ?

I personally abhor the notion of the access to the field site as extraction oriented one way street. For me the Khaleej is Bayt, and the stories are dialogic as these are my Sadiq- old and new whose pain and aspirations i feel as if my own. We are not data.

I watch Anupama Chopra’s phillum reviews for her poetic language, elevates movie reviews to the next level. Very educated and posh. Malik’s review is worthy of an academic essay.