As a second generation Indian Citizen in the Gulf, with a substantial part of my life also lived in SE Asia, one tries to manufacture myths in the head such as Global Citizen, NRI, Passport Country, Migrant among a slew of vocabulary which one tries to mask the frailties of everyday experiences and also to … More The Migrant Plate
I first met, Mukul- a well groomed, almost metrosexual Male very unlike a migrant construction worker at the Banglar Kantha- Dibashram way back in February 2015 at Rowell Road in the heart of a bustling artery in Little India (or Bangladesh) in Singapore. He used to be at that juncture a regular member of the … More The Curious Case of Md. Mukul- Glass ceiling to Migrant Art in Singapore
Engage with the wound Running away, a balm In our bruises The self is built/revealed Pain crushes/transforms
Hardly see serpentine lines in Dubai, but in this Muharram time, streams of faithful gush in to the Shia Masjid in Al Fahidi, Bur Dubai next to the place where i live. Year of Tolerance. UAE lives the ethos.
Good to be at the 24th World Energy Congress at Abu Dhabi with my team. Excellent to see representations from the heavy hitters from the UAE, KSA, Korea, Japan, Russia, Estonia, Algeria and Lebanon. India too had a good team fielded from Coal India, NTPC among others.
My favourite books out of hundreds I have read since I started reading seriously after tenth grade, now at 33- these are three favourites: This Divided Island by Samanth Subramanian, Indonesia Etc by Elizabeth Pisani and Calcutta by Amit Chaudhuri.
Life is a checklist to stay afloat Gatekeepers, need to tick At every turn The balance is the misery Need to keep paddling Is however the default
Blood Island by Journalist Deep Halder is a breach on the canon of contemporary South Asian History which is dominated by a particular kind of scholar. The book is personal and speaks to the lived experience of the tragedy conveniently erased from the discourse. Unearthing the tragedy, breathes new life in to future work which … More Blood Island: A Review
Some people just amaze you. A cab driver who is a trained archeologist from Sana’a in Dubai gave me a 30 minute crash course on Arab History including dynamics in Yemen to Iran via Oman. He recognised my roots in Oman when I started speaking Arabic with him and he said are you from Oman? … More History Conversations in a Cab
The future of work will be a horrible one, accentuating inequality- no insurance, everyone expected to relearn, no family time, all the power concentrated in a few people. The employee is a replaceable cog. The future of work works for the bosses. Life is at best a lottery for resources. Upward mobility is rare.
