Kashmir and Article 370: Part One

We heard a lot of noise throughout the last week over the abrogation of Article 370 (and subsequently, Article 35A). Everyone kept saying: Article 370 is “no longer valid” in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Why, Jammu and Kashmir was no more a state! But then, as with all noises, this noise added to the confusion in our minds. And before we go any further, let me say in simple English, what Article 370 and Article 35A are. Easy one-line statement, you think?

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.

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.