Author: akshay
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Nirbhau Nirvair Niramaya
Ajay (AN) introduced to me the above words at Kozhikode during the mid-annual mfc meet last year. It means without fear, without hate, with love. The last one was added to the Sikh saying by AN themself. When I met AN at the meet, I was brimming with negative energy (likely hatred) at the institutions…
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‘The Good Place’ is Good
Swathi and I started watching ‘The Good Place’ after we finished watching ‘A Man on the Inside’ (thanks to Pooja’s recommendation in the South Central podcast) and craving for more Ted Danson. There are 4 seasons and we finished it within a month! It was a whirlwind ride on philosophy. Although not as exciting as…
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Who’s the Default Cook in your Home?
There’s plenty written by women about how unfair division of household chores is the classic symptom of patriarchy. They’ve written about how it is not just about cooking, but also about the mental burden of thinking about the house — about grocery shopping, about making a list for grocery shopping, about keeping a mental checklist…
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Read Everything
In hindsight, this was the most important advice I got as a child. Read everything. Newspaper. Books. Textbook. Children’s magazines. Even the paper which the shopkeeper uses to wrap vegetables in. I followed it religiously for most of my life. I used to wake up and read the whole newspaper from first page to last.…
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No, You Don’t Understand Intersectionality
Most people who use the word intersectionality understand it as “sum of various identities”. Ask them to explain what intersectionality means and they’ll go “Oh, so think about a Dalit woman, she’s doubly oppressed — through caste and through gender” This is a crude and problematic understanding of intersectionality. Firstly, it leads to what’s called…
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The Logic of Social Justice
Today in a discussion at IPH, Meena said “we should all fight against discrimination”. And Prashanth asked “Isn’t that your personal politics? What if people don’t agree with it?” What Prashanth was really asking was “Is there any logic to the demand for social justice?” “Isn’t it just politics?” This is the same discussion I…
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Don’t Jump On Private Healthcare
People from Koodam asked for opinion on the PIL in Supreme Court regarding fees in private hospitals (and clinical establishments act). They shared a folder collating views of various individuals, including this excellent working paper which I refer to in the text below as Oxfam publication. *** Hi Gayatri, I went through the whole folder.…
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What is mfc?
A year ago, I asked in mfc‘s own e-group this question. You can read that long email and another long email after a week with more ideas of what mfc is here. It ends with an appreciation of what the website presently says about mfc: It is an organization which has operated for forty eight…
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Why Medical College Work Culture is So Horrible
A number of junior residents at Jipmer have raised allegations of mental and physical harassment against the head of department, medicine, and called for action against the senior faculty.In recent complaints lodged with the Jipmer Dean (Academics), the residents alleged they were subjected to various forms of harassment at the hands of the department head…
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How the World Should Be and How the World Is
There are two modes of thinking in society and social work. “How The World Should Be” mode, and “How The World Is” mode. There is a constant friction between these two. This friction explains hundreds of debates I’ve been in and many of my own moral dilemmas. Understanding this friction and being able to categorize…