Are Government Freebies Bad

Ever since the word, “Socialist”, got added to the Preamble of our constitution—or perhaps much before that—political parties, in their manifestos, have continued to promise freebies to us citizens. This is so common, that we now take the freebies and subsidies for granted.

Understand that I am not talking from a political standpoint; I am talking of politics, but not from a political standpoint. Take this post in the sense of an economy and its members, which is us; everyone of us. And I will keep this short.

The economics of home ownership in Bangalore

When I was in college, my dream was to buy a house in the Kathipara area in Chennai. I was a simple, unthoughtful middle-class child back then. As an unthoughtful middle-class child, my nature was to roll with the mainstream, whether something mattered or not. And the mainstream, more often than not, works on sentiments. Buying a house and “settling down” is one such sentiment.

How to not celebrate Women's Day

When Ustraa sent me an “offers” SMS in November, “Gear up for No-shave November with Ustraa … 20% discount on all products”, I realised how meanings were being lost rapidly. No-shave November is a relatively new “observance”, and most of us Indians don’t know the meaning of it. (So, Ustraa is forgiven for now.) This post is not about No-shave November, but about a relatively old concept of Women’s Day. Did we lose sight of its meaning because it’s a pre-Millennial concept?

Where democracy should begin

Education is perhaps the most powerful weapon in the world. Education, starting from our childhood, shapes our thoughts, actions, interactions, and overall, our lives. Not only are our perceptions based on the learnings of our past, but our assimilation of new learnings depends strongly on the basis created by our experiences and past learnings.

Surgical Strike 2.0

I am an ordinary citizen. And as an ordinary citizen of a country that hates terror attacks, and personally holding the same stand as my country, I was upset and immensely angry on the 14th of February 2019, when forty CRPF jawans got killed in a terror attack. The terror outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the strike. I was upset that India’s September 2016 strike on terror camps in Pakistan hadn’t borne fruit—that the terrorists hadn’t received the message the right way. The first thought that crossed my mind was the wish that our intelligence find Masood Azhar and our defence castrate him in public, after which, any citizen who liked to kick him in the gut, was allowed to.

Capitalism, communism, socialism ... wtf-ism

Let’s face it, this is the generation of isms. Everywhere you go, every channel you pick, every Facebook page that floods your newsfeed, have one or the other form of -ism being talked about: whether it’s a meme, or a debate video (where you barely hear a thing), or a long post like this one. Needless to say, we’re all either tired, or are numb.

A Conversation

A few days ago, I lost an uncle of mine. The loss was hard, especially given that he was one among the few strictly rational individuals — someone who could think straight even in the face of death. I won’t ramble on. Here is a write-up he shared with me when I visited him after a major attack. Without any further ado, over to the memory of Uncle Sampath:

The Massive Metal Crawlers

I read in the newspaper yesterday that the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation had ranted (rightfully so, no doubt) about how the increased traffic on the roads was to blame for the drastic drop in speed and efficiency of our dear buses. I thought I’d extend the discussion a little, today.

My First 100 km Bicycle Ride

Before I start, let me mention, very clearly, that I’m just a beginner cyclist. Sometimes I like to push myself to my limits to see where I stand. As I go through these experiences, I learn more about myself, and this post is just an observation, thinking it might help someone looking to go on a long bicycle ride; some things to consider, some facts, and probable best practices.

The Secret Store of Oxygen

My weekends over the last month have been really great. There was this one during which we went to Mystery Rooms and played Abduction (thereby burning a hole in our pockets), the next one during which we went to Sakleshpur and had a blast. The last weekend wasn’t so eventful apart from riding my bike for a long distance and chilling out. And of course, binge-watching movies with my brother.