Author: akshay
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The Diary of a Revolutionary Person Working Inside the System
Day 1 of being a revolutionary person working inside the system I saw injustice being meted out by the system today. I decided to stand up against it. I was thrown out of the system.
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Stop Fixing Problems
I read the book “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus” long ago. There’s one chapter or so in the book that talks about how women talk about problems and how men try to “fix” them immediately, and how, often, it is not a solution that’s needed, but just space to talk. Many feminists…
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Tired of Mental Health “Excuses”?
Of late, I have started seeing a pattern around the responses people have to mental health issues. The first time someone talks about their mental health issue(s), people are incredibly supportive. They are like “Incredibly brave of you to share this”, “Please reach out if you need anything”, “How can I help you?”, “Sure, take…
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God Has No Shoulders
“People believe in god because there are things that frighten them beyond their control and the idea that someone is there to look after them gives them hope and stability”. Growing up as an atheist, I’ve heard this argument from several people who wanted me to dial down my atheism. And it did work on…
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How To Do Nothing
It was past 10 PM when Shubhangani, Swathi, and I stepped into Goobe’s Book Republic in Church Street this Tuesday. We had met at 6:30 PM in Blossom Book House and had been chatting non-stop all of the night. We had had Blini Creamy Mushroom and Blini Chicken Taco at Blini Bistro where we also…
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How to Be A Good Armchair Activist
I do not see armchair activism as a pejorative. It can be a valuable form of activism.
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Why India Misunderstands Violence
The room was cold and lit by artificial lights. It was in a large building in a corner of the city unknown to 10 year old Manu. He has tried everything — resisting, pleading, crying, shouting — to no avail. First they made him unconscious. Mercy! Then they cut him open… Three hours later Manu…
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The Science of Seeing Caste in Everything
There are topics where caste is traditionally invisibilized/erased. Thanks to social change, people are able to stand up and assert and call out caste in many such topics these days. When that happens, the typical savarna response is to call it “unscientific”. I’ll give two examples. Example 1 Shilpa wrote “Mahishasura: The Demonized Hero of…
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Public Health is Bullshit
If a clinician treats tuberculosis with Paracetamol alone, they would be labeled an idiot. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by microorganisms. But also tuberculosis disproportionately affects people who live in poverty and undernutrition. Thus treating TB requires anti-tubercular therapy (ATT) and also nutritional rehabilitation. Paracetamol might help with the symptoms, but is not sufficient. The…
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Where Time Takes a Break
Swathi and I went to Puducherry this weekend. Just to take a break. Day 0 We left on Thursday night in KSRTC’s AC sleeper from Bengaluru’s Shanthinagar bus stand. It was the old white Ambari Dream Class bus. (Earlier this month when we went to Kerala, we had gotten Ambari Utsav for the first time).…