Category: Philosophy
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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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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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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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1kg Equity Please
When there is a power-cut and kids are annoyed, we tell them “Here’s 10 rupees, go to the shop and buy 1kg current (electricity)” The kids immediately get it. You can’t purchase electricity like that. It is not an off-the-shelf good. But when it comes to equity (equity as in “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion”, not the…
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The World is Malleable
TW: Mentions a techbro There is a 90 second video of Steve Jobs on the internet from the time SJ had a beard and lots of hair. In that, in less than 2 minutes, Steve Jobs makes an elevator pitch for a life that’s full of agency. I’m embedding it here so you can watch…
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Privacy is not the Goal
In and around free software circles there are several activists who fight tooth and nail for privacy. They frequently take extreme measures to protect their privacy, like avoiding all kinds of conveniences, and sticking to workflows and tools that majority of people do not use. I am quite uncomfortable with such “privacy-maximization” movements. There are…
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All the world’s a stage
I have this weird issue. I tend to be non-conformist. I notice the performance of societal roles. I am more painfully conscious when I have to perform societal roles myself. The first time it became a real problem was when I started practicing medicine. You just can’t be yourself in the consultation room. Doctors have…
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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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Love is Enough
“You need power only when you want to do something harmful. Otherwise love is enough to get everything done.” ~Charlie Chaplin Judah (JP) sent me that quote in response to a question that I had posed JP. The question was something like this: “You need power to do things and attain change. But power is…