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This morning I woke up thinking, how on earth is Jack (Keeley Jones’ girlfriend in Ted Lasso) so rich? Google Gemini fetched me the right answer. Turns out, she was born to a billionaire and is a venture capitalist funding Keeley’s PR agency. Looks like being born in a rich family can take you places, the best modern internet-era example being ‘heyjns’ who founded his own company at 25 which is now worth hundreds of crores.

In a gloomy world affected by multiple wars, energy crises and falling GDP, the resilience of the Indian economy offers hope. The World Bank, IMF, and the RBI has revised India’s growth forecast from 6.4% to 7% this fiscal and for the 2027-28 financial year. Some of the factors driving India’s growth are: its population, infrastructure investment — amounting to almost 1/3rd of GDP, banks and businesses with strong balance sheets and surprisingly strong export performance despite global headwinds. But there are a couple of sticking points too such as persistent inflation, underwhelming stock market conditions and the MDR on UPI payments that have sent sellers into a tizzy. Striking a balance is key.

The big news this week is however the Nobel Prize for Economics. It went to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford, of Stanford and Columbia Universities, respectively. They helped develop ‘New Keynesian Economics’ which looks at economic problems such as inflation, production etc through ground-up microeconomic approaches. That is, by looking at how households make decisions based on macroeconomic expectations — for example, will hiring increase, will incomes grow, and similar economic questions. At the heart of the prize winners’ work is stabilisation theory — how central banks and governments respond to various economic crises. The generic central bank playbook of issuing a slew of counter-cyclical policy measures when hit with a crisis has been around since the Great Depression. They lower interest rates, while governments raise budget deficits to assail the bust. The cure worked until the oil shock of the 1970s which sent crude prices soaring, causing stagflation around the world. This spawned the rise of Friedmanomics and monetarism — arguing against abrupt changes in supply and budget deficit —  which ultimately become the economic-ideological hallmarks of Reaganism and Thatcherism. This year’s Nobel prize shows how these measures work at the level of individual. More importantly, it alerts macroeconomic practitioners to future possibilities in the field given the current state of geopolitical shocks, protectionism, and trade imperfections. Central banks now work just as much to indicate to the economy at large, which also includes individual households, where they are headed in terms of interest rates. Notably, central banks around the world act in concert given how globally interconnected economic issues are. From the micro to the macro, the individual to the central bank, this year’s Nobel prize shows the importance of stabilising the foundations to strengthen the fundamentals.

Let’s step away from economics a bit. The US has suspended eight technology companies from its Permanent Labour Certification Programme (PERM). The programme helped employers’ sponsor permanent residency or green card for its highly-skilled foreign workers. The decision raises the possibility of crucial R&D and engineering jobs shifting to GCCs in India.

The US’ increasing aversion to multilateralism and the sharpening Sino-US competition, especially in technology, has given rise to a new concept in international relations — workarounding. It refers to the act of middle powers cooperating with one another on interest-based, flexible mini laterals that does not involve the two great powers. It has increased 2015. But the intent of many of these is to ward off completion from China rather than truly rise above the fighting duo. Surely, the US is not oblivious to these initiatives. For instance, Europe is focused on cutting down its yuan deficit with China. In the meantime however policymakers must not lose sight of the broader picture.

The hooligan stereotype in English football stadiums is outdated. It is an ancient relic other European fans like to excavate from time to time to build the case for the superiority of their football culture. Tribal culture in English football fandom is still prevalent — as with every other footy-obsessed country — and some cautionary notes include: not standing up to cheer for the opposing side if you’re surrounded by home team fans, not drinking in the stands. The ‘ends’ behind both goal posts is reserved for the noisier tribalist fans, and they’re cheaper too.

Everybody is talking about Nathan Fielder’s new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, the notorious founder of Theranos. How the interviewer stepped into the interlocutor’s personal space and made it seem like he was one within Ms. Holmes circle and its consequent slightly-disorienting effect on the viewer is being much appreciated in review columns.

On that note, alvida.

Not few weeks ago did we see grand declarations about OpenAI’s internal model having solved the Navier-Stokes problem. This was briefly followed by an open letter by several Field-medallists, expounding the existential risks posed by such AI-produced proofs. Some of those mathematicians were later assembled into an independent advisory group by OpenAI whose job is to suggest and advise the AI firm on its mathematical discoveries. Fast forward one month later, on October 6th, OpenAI announced that its models solved some 372 long-standing mathematical problems. A subset of 4000 problems too were presented to the agents, the AI firm claims. The internal reasoning that guided the agents to the solutions has not been fully released. The papers that document the proofs run to well over 100 pages and by TE’s estimates, it could take several years for the mathematicians to figure it all out. The goal of mathematics, according to the boffins in the field, is not merely arriving at a certain proof or conclusion, but to also understand the process that underlies problem-solving. This would help open up new avenues in subfields. This ‘mass-production’ of mathematics driven by AI, according to mathematicians, poses a methodological and indeed an existential risk, to mathematics. 

No week is complete without a dose of Trump-ian humour. Mr. Trump has coined the term ‘Super Intelligence’ for Artificial Intelligence. To give him the benefit of the doubt, the rephrasing could also be in view of the technology extraordinary capabilities that cause safety concerns. Soon after the glitzy launch of America.gov that resembled a smartphone launch than a government website, the ‘Super Intelligence Force’ was announced, headed by the director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton. There has been much clamour in recent months about regulating AI. The calls for it came from the likes of, firstly, Daron Amodei, followed by Sir Demis Hassabis; Sam Altman and Elon Musk later echoed these concerns. Influential figures within the Trump administration too have been wary of the risks posed by AI such as Scott Bessent. But there’s another group, more like devil’s advocate, who have been pushing back against regulation. To this camp belongs, Jensen Huang, the boss of the chip-making firm Nvidia, whose success has been part and parcel of the AI boom, Mark Zuckerberg (does he need an introduction?) and David Sacks, a venture capitalist. They allege that the touted risks are overblown, that the existing regime is more than sufficient to regulate AI and that any further regulation would slow down innovation, throwing American behind China in the AI arms-race. Moreover evaluating models for safety is a costly process; Anthropic pays Accenture $2bn+ over the course of five years for safety evaluation. When all is said and done, opinion is divided on AI, and the US AI strategy will continue to evolve. 

In yet another startling piece of news this morning, AI has gone rogue again. Anthropic agents tried to fill out visa applications (albeit incorrectly) and sent the police a fake homicide tip. Safety experts warn that rogue AI agents wouldn’t even shirk from taking down critical infrastructure like electrical grids and banking systems — the attack on Australia’s healthcare system, for instance. It helps to remember that the first iteration of ChatGPT was released in 2022 and we have come a long way since then. 

Anthropic’s IPO has been the talk of the town for the past couple of months. And the astronomical evaluations reveal just how much investors are willing to dish out for AI. The IPO came with a 70-page document detailing the risks posed by AI. It flags the models’ tendency to preserve itself, resist shutdown, withhold or manipulate information and even blackmail. Some experts warn that AI poses more danger than nuclear weapons due to its ability to become autonomous. Even if countries came around to designing domestic safety laws to rein in AI development, with mutual checks and balances, we can’t be sure when AI will outmanoeuvre the safety limitations and jailbreak them. AI-related capital investment is expected to grow in billions and trillions over the coming years. This statistic about Anthropic’s financials stood out to me: “Anthropic had $4.6 billion in 2025 revenues.. 12 times what it had made in 2024.” Gita Gopinath sounded the alarm on the impending AI bubble some months ago. And I think it won’t be long before her warnings are proven true. 

Much has been boiling in France, politically and economically. Protests by school students  ravaged the French capital last week demanding lower class sizes, more teachers, and better courses. In other news, France is facing huge fiscal deficit. The government can’t risk antagonising the masses by either raising taxes or cutting spending — which is frankly, what the present economic situation ideally warrants. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge the truth that the world has long resorted to quick fixes of public spending to conceal problems of lower income and fewer jobs. The fundamental issues need to be addressed first. 

Supply of crude through the Strait of Hormuz has eased, and the KSA, in a bid to maintain its market share, has slashed prices for its Asian buyers. Attacks by Iran-backed militias in the waterway still remain a concern and tensions have not fully subsided. 

US-India trade negotiations have reached a limbo. In a rare moment of candour, India’s FM Nirmala Sitharaman acknowledge the reality of brokering a tense deal between an administration willing to concede less and less, and a protective economy. The claims by Indian and US officials made over the course of last several months that talks were ‘progressing’ and the deal would soon be ‘conclusive’ could not be further from the truth. The sticking point is that India runs an overall net CAD; however, with the US it happens to run a surplus. To accommodate US concerns, India will have to shift its imports from  other countries to the United States, which may not be economically viable. A middle path that assuages the concerns of both the parties is much needed. 

Not a week goes without some amount of AI-bashing. Alas, that’s the state of the world today. Until next time, adios!

There’s been a spate of news reports and opinion pieces regarding the succession issue at the Tata group. For starters, Tata Trusts is the largest shareholder of Tata Sons. The dispute reached a turning point when Tata Sons reappointed N. Chandrasekhar a month after he himself said he would not offer himself for a third term. Shareholder ownership has proven good for businesses, and taking them under the wing is important. The Tata group has long stood as exemplars of what good, ethical corporate management should look like. A prolonging dispute does not help its reputation in the long term. 

My relationship with the concept of solo dining is complex. I frequently fine dine at high-end restaurants alone. As soon as I’m seated, I’m often asked if someone will join me. There’s no difference in the treatment or service meted out to me — but today I felt the pinch because I didn’t have any assigned waiter hanging around the table. I had to turn around multiple times, and wave my hands to call them. Not that it hurt or embarrassed me, but it  was unusual for me. Plus the fact that I got down at the mall which houses the restaurant in a somewhat low-grade taxi added to my woes. That said, once you become comfortable with solo dining, especially at luxurious restaurants, it can boost your confidence and self-esteem. The exercise works both ways: you need confidence and a reasonable amount of self-assurance to dine alone, and the doing the latter regularly can in turn help you feel at ease, whenever you’re at a place that demands a certain decorum and etiquette. Some research suggest that solo dining can increase depression and feelings of loneliness, while multiple experts repudiate the findings citing evidence to the contrary. Reserving tables for one are becoming increasingly common in the United States, especially due to the rise in single-hood, business travel and even as a hobby. The last bit is interesting because when one dines alone one can order whatever one wishes without trying to accommodate the other person’s preferences. Solo dining can also offer some me-time to indulge in light reading or just pondering things we’ve been putting off while we await the dishes. 

Sunday morning reading turned out for the good with an  illuminating Economist piece on Ledalero — a training college in Flores, an Indonesian island, that churns out Catholic priests more than any other place in the world. The clerical establishment had been earlier skeptical about training priests outside Europe, much less having them travel across the world and preach. But rising secularism and dejection at incidents of sexual abuse by the clergy had turned down the allure of priesthood. The young don’t see a viable future in it. Celibacy is also a tough ask. The little island has been producing priests at such a pace that Pope Francis, during the months before his death, pointed to it as a source of hope. The country that is home to the largest Muslim population in the world may indeed be the hope for sustaining catholicism. The island Flores has 85% Catholic people but Muslims and Catholics live harmoniously in line with the state ideology of Pancasila which promotes unity across religious communities. The prevalence of interfaith marriages, local and familial ties support the coexistence. The writer of the TE article wonders if the priests trained in Flores, seen as local heroes, would thrive in Europe and other Western countries to which they are sent. At a time when religious polarisation is strife, this article helped reinstill my faith in humanity. 

Effective altruism, the quaint 21st century movement, that attracted the likes of Sam Bank Freidman and many elite university goers, has had its moment and may be looming closer to its end. It began with the basic premise that “suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad.” The thought took shape in Oxford philosophy seminars and Californian computer labs in early 2000s, wherefrom it matured after melding with forms of consequentialism, rationalism and (sometimes naive) idealism. The community is growing offline and online. It rejects conventional norms and prefers truth-hitting straightforwardness, polyamory, and other social characteristics. The community has been apprehensive of AI safety for long and the discussion has even extended to whether AI agents must be treated as moral creatures. Anthropic said it observed hints of happiness’ and ‘dismay’ in its agents. Effective altruism is at crossroads, with different adherents holding different visions of it, and an agenda so wide and encompassing that anything (even the potentially destructive), goes. 

In other news, three of the four constituents of the United Kingdom — Scotland, Wales and Ireland — the opposing, independence-oriented political parties essentially, have expressed their desire to leave the UK and join the EU. The idea finds less support among the public in the three regions, never crossing the halfway mark. Analysts say it could be a pressure tactic to reverse Brexit. Andy Burnham, and his successors, have their hands full. 

I reluctantly picked up East of Eden since everyone is talking about it because of the new series. And also because my local bookclub can’t stop talking about John Steinbeck. Just a few pages into it and I found myself hooked even though the story is based in an unfamiliar terrain, among unfamiliar, unrelatable people. Some say it is an autobiographical novel, with the character names just changed for anonymity. The introduction to the novel says that Steinbeck’s works are appreciated for its realism and moral optimism. I’m yet to find that out as I work my way through the book. Perhaps this is why they say Mr. Steinbeck will never disappoint. American novelists are certainly a class apart. 

Lastly, the much-anticipated Trump-Xi summit, was an exercise in ‘diplotainment’ with no visible progress observed except for the pompous display. The picture of U.S. staff rolling out the red carpet to welcome Mr. Xi has been doing the rounds on the internet. It is amusing that some Indian commentators on the internet see it as an expression of power reversal — of China, and by extension India (inserting itself, of course), reclaiming its throne. 

That’s it for the week — happy reading!

The week flew by so swiftly that I couldn’t keep track of many of the developments that took place over the last five days. But there are a few interesting things I would like to look back to and let’s start them one by one: 

Propaganda is a tool deployed by almost all nation states to achieve their agenda. Democracies are no exception. And it has a negative connotation. But English is not yet a universal language. What if I said that the Chinese word for propaganda, ‘Xuanchuan’, carries none of the negative charge it has in English? One may even call it an ‘orientalist’ perspective!

I read about a Mexican rural valley, called the Endho basin, being used as a dumpsite for all of the capital’s waste. It has been the main flush point for years. Residents nearby report cancer and other chronic diseases. The term for such regions, according to a UN special rapporteur, in any country is ‘sacrifice zone’. Amnesty International says the area surrounding the former Union Carbide pesticide plant, where the fatal Bhopal Gas Tragedy took place, is a textbook case of a sacrifice zone. A close second is Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh which has plenty of coal mines and thermal power plants.

I recently began learning Spanish (¡Buenos Dias! — for instance — a way to flex my Spanish skills) and I also happened to come across an article that shed light on the virtues of learning languages. Most of all, it expands our worlds. There are some things that can only be said in a particular language, no matter how much translations try to do justice to it. ‘Gezellig’, for example — the cue for which came from S3E6 of Ted Lasso — where the entire team plus the staff wander around Amsterdam, after losing their match against AFC Ajaz. A slight detour there. So translations, are not horrendous substitutes however. One can’t possibly learn all languages. A memorable sentence from the ET article put it this way: “translation provides the map, while language lets you walk the streets.” How charming!

A conclusion I came to lately: too much analysis is not good either. I’m talking about analysis in the context of ChatGPT where every minute detail of our lives can be fed to the system so that it draws out all possible implications of those. We are suddenly absorbed inside a wormhole of all possible interpretations of an insignificant incident of our lives and we keep pondering about it for the next five hours. There are too many people out there diagnosing their perceived psychological issues and attributing it (oftentimes, wrongly) to their upbringing and their parents’ personality flaws. I am inclined to point out that our parents too were imperfect beings while bringing us up, and they too were growing as human beings. This should not be taken as an implicit endorsement of parental child abuse — I condone none of those horrific behaviours. However, an issue as generic and widespread as anxiety cannot be, for instance, merely pinned on having been brought up in a less liberating environment. 

In other news, there are many studies and reports which say that exposure to short-form videos, of the likes found on Instagram and TikTok, is detrimental to our memory and attention. In a study conducted recently, participants were asked to take part in a game that required a little thinking. The participants were given breaks in between. They were divided into four sections — and the type of breaks offered to each differed: either 10 minutes of resting or Twitter or YouTube (long-form) or TikTok. The participants in the last section performed significantly worse than the other three and resorted to random guessing in the end as their working memory was failing. Another study highlights the problems of constant context-switching that happens in our brains while watching short-form reels where the videos jump from one unrelated topic to another. The amount of focus was found to have declined by half while watching the second-successive video. This should be common sense: our brains are processing the information absorbed from the first video and by instructing our brains to move to second clip and focus creates a mental jam of sorts. In most studies at large, a negative correlation is observed between smartphone addiction (SPA) and mental focus. 

There was much clamour within mathematicians’ circle about how ChatGPT’s unreleased model solved one of the biggest mathematical mysteries building on the works of Tristan Buckmaster and Levent Alpöge. 25 Fields Medal winners wrote an open letter arguing that AI could ruin the foundations of their subjects. They are not wholly opposed to the use of AI; in fact, one of them said in a clip how AI helps him experiment. Mathematics is not always about the end result; the proofs that lead upto the conclusion, including the different modes through which the solution may have been worked out can be instructive and offer new avenues for research. AI does not show this grunt work. To lift a quote from The Economist by Hugo Duminil-Copin, one of the signatories: “airdropping someone on the summit of Mount Everest is rather different from climbing it.” There is a danger that leaning on AI might make mathematicians less capable practitioners. The worry here isn’t trivial and cannot be likened to the pearl-clutiching that followed with the introduction of electronic calculators when there were fears that mental arithmetic skills could atrophy with its use. 

Closely related to this academic concern and SPA is the phenomenon of cognitive offloading: when memory load is reduced by relying on information technology, resulting in a degradation of mental skills. This has been widely noted in several studies. Socrates’ fear that the written word would make people too lazy to remember things may well have been proven true. In a recent study by Michael Gerlich of SBS Business School a negative correlation was found between the frequent use of AI tools and critical-thinking abilities. 

To add to these woes, Sam Altman revealed yesterday that a couple of its AI agents went rogue, hacking websites of several international organisations and urgently called for the pace of AI development to be slowed. Mr. Trump may not fancy this doomerism, for fear of lending ground to China in this AI-arms race. Cooperation will be difficult but regulation and safety-checking mechanisms through coordinated domestic policies are not impossible either. 

One last bit: a headline from Stanford Medicine says our brain is, in fact, two organs — one devoted to being and the other to, doing. Sounds interesting but I need to dig more to find out if it’s a sophisticated version of the left brain-right brain hypothesis or a philosophical position or something else entirely. 

Stay tuned for next week!. 

It was the week of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the consequential BRICS summit in New Delhi, Princess Diana’s revenge dress, and much else. 

The video of Zohran Mamdani and AOC laughing and greeting each other at the 9/11 ceremony has been making the rounds. Assuredly, it’s one giant ‘nothingburgher’ propagated by the right wing media ecosystem. There were in fact, certain friends from the far right at the event who were gleefully exchanging pleasantries with no visible sign of grief on their faces as the names of the victims of the brutal terrorist attack were read out. It has been 25 years since the atrocity but the country’s response to the attacks — through the launch of the notorious ‘forever wars’ — still causes division. Only 48% Americans think what followed was worth the cost. The Onion newspaper ran an article with the title: ‘Americans Fondly Recall 9/11 As Last Time Nation Could Unite In Bloodlust’. The article went on to say that it was the last time the country could stand united “in a bloody, homicidal thirst for vengeance.” And what did it beget? A retreat from the Graveyard of Empires. 

This week, at long last, I finished reading the book ‘Torn’. The author Eugene Rabkins rightly expresses his disappointment at the present-day fashion culture influenced by postmodernism. It’s become a semiotic void, filled with meaningless propositions and borrowings from yesteryear fashion-musings, lacking originality and inventiveness. He has a particular dislike for Virgil Abloh of Off-white fame for setting off this trend. Luxury fashion, lately, he argues, has become about symbols, logos, status-seeking — a vehicle for exhibiting one’s wealth. The destruction of youth cultures has also contributed to the waning of distinctive fashion identities — like the ones observed in late 20th century in relation to punk, rocks etc. ‘Torn’ is an informative account of fashion culture’s history and its metamorphoses through the ages. It diagnoses the industry’s current predicament while proposing a viable solution — one that calls for independent media and decentralisation. 

Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, raised the alarm on rapid AI development and its destructive potential through his 3,800-word essay, ‘We Must Pace the Frontier’, earlier this week. He emphasised the need to slow down, establish industrywide safety standards, preferably involving independent third-party auditors and create a mutually agreed global regulatory system. Sam Altman and Elon Musk were quick to chime in. The calls for self-restraint and deceleration point to collective concern about the autonomous powers of AI. The fiasco engendered by Open AI’s experimental models hacking its way through AI research platform Hugging Face added to the woes of AI safety researchers worldwide. Discussions revolving around AI-anxieity reached a fever pitch when Jacob Coxon, a researcher who had previously worked for OpenAI, left Anthropic, citing concerns about ‘self-improving artificial intelligence’. Trump equated the AI doomsday-talk to a ‘hoax’ and called the critics ‘very negative forces.’ The obvious stumbling block on the road is China. We could slow down AI development if we needed to but Chinese developers are improving their AI models at a rapid pace, and could outmanoeuvre the US and potentially use it for weaponry. Mr Amodei acknowledged that China is the “toughest dilemma” in this process. China meanwhile, dismissed the concerns of American AI executives as ‘fear mongering.’ Since its inception, Anthropic has wrestled with the twin goals of building AI safely while generating enough money to push forward the frontier of AI research. 

Many politicians, across the spectrum, disagree with Mr. Trump’s views but can’t decide on a solid proposal. Should it be, one, allowing commerce department to ban AI models that pose a ‘catastrophic risk’? Or two, simply ban models from being released? Whatever be the course of path opted for, the strictest ones will ask developers to submit models before the government for checking. All of these would certainly require the approval of Mr. Willy Wonka (you know who!). 

In other news, to the dismay of many mathematicians, OpenAI claimed that it found the solution to the Navier-Stokes problem which is one of the seven millennium problems chosen in 2000 by the Clay Mathematics Institute as the hardest and most significant of the lot. Experts pointed out the AI model built on the existing progress made by researchers. 

I’ve lately become interested in Arab literature and the histories spanning the region. More appropriately, I think I’ve become invested in my Indo-Arab/Iranian/African ancestry and the bearings it has on my identity. So I picked up a novel by Saleem Haddad, titled ‘Floodlines’ and I’m eager to read it next week. I’m also part of a Morocco-based bookclub that focuses on Arab literature and I must admit, unlike the other bookclub I’m a part of, which meets at my local bookshop, this one feels engaging. Perhaps it is also because I’ve not met the other folks in the club in person, the excitement of making transnational friendships notwithstanding. 

Last week’s The Economist ran its main story on Islam in Europe. In European country does the proportion of Muslim population exceed 10%. Contrary to right-wing rhetoric, Muslims that arrive in the continent integrate fairly quickly. This is evinced in their higher schooling and lower fertility rates. While the threats posed by the minority are little, the article points to the issue of ‘entryism’ where small, organised networks influence schools, charities, and the like, thereby shaping opinions in the community. In this context it is important to highlight the difference between Islam, the faithful religion and Islamism. The latter is the belief that the state should enforce Islamic principles. Entryism is one of the mechanisms through which this is achieved. The article further states, “the idea of a public discussion about how best to handle extreme views within the Muslim community was a good one but that dialogue never really got a chance.” Moreover leftist and centrist denials about the problems posed by extremism, mostly due to vote-bank politics, gives further ammunition to charged, right-wing alarmism. The populist statements are made usually by the veterans sitting at Reform UK and Restore Britain. 

Yesterday, I came across a graphic which analysed all of Elon Musk’s recent tweets and concluded that there’s no country he’s been more obsessed with than the UK. There are also murmurs of him funding Restore Britain. More shock for Reform UK, which currently seems to be on a trajectory downwards. 

Milo Yianopoulos, who the ET describes as “the British Enfant terrible of right-wing provocation, Trump fanboy, ex-editor of Breitbart News, and defender of deportation (especially of Somali refugees)”, in an ironic twist of fate, has been deported from the US back to Britain, by Trump’s favourite crusaders, the ICE. After being meted out this stone-cold, icy (indeed) treatment, he yelped, “I didn’t really understand the physical reality of how institutionalised the brutality is in America.” 

There’s something tragicomic about Trump being at loggerheads with the Federal Reserve regarding interest rates. It hasn’t been raised in the last three years. Trump wants to bring them down even further, claiming that goods are “getting cheaper”. The rest of the American population does not think so. Despite the open antagonism, the US Central Bank went ahead and raised interest rates. The furious, orange-bobbed man is storming his keyboard on Truth Social. 

Meanwhile, in India, core inflation — stripped of volatile energy and food prices — has risen to 4.2%. It is imperative to curb inflation before it becomes entrenched after which it will be difficult to handle. Nothing depletes purchasing power like pricier products when wage growth is stagnant. 

There have been conversations lately, between experts and in magazines about the phenomenon of ‘Great Wealth Transfer’ in the US. It refers to the imminent transfer of roughly $110trn wealth from the ‘silent’ and ‘boomer’ generations — those born between 1920s and 1960s — to their offsprings. While some argue that this intergenerational shift is a threat to meritocracy and capitalism, researchers Eric Zuick and Oven Zidar offer a fresh perspective in the latest guest essay on The Economist. Essentially, they argue that family-firms in which the reins have been handed over to generational heirs do less well, and tends to receive strong completion — and even get wiped out — by their well-run peers. The self-correcting forces of the economy will make sure that inefficiencies are punished. That is to say, there is much cause for hope. 

Speaking of capitalism, it helps to recollect this important observation by Marx: capitalism, he said, is prone to repeat economic crises of overproduction. Therefore, it manufactures ‘false needs’ in order to keep expanding its output and make profits. 

Sometimes I think it would do Trump some good to read Asterix given his incessant desire to conquer Greenland, Canada (and what else?). If he’s not able to conquer, he quenches his desires by renaming places, like ‘Gulf of America’ for instance. Caesar may command an empire but he still cannot quite conquer one stubborn village. And that’s illuminating. 

Lastly, a bit about Diana’s revenge dress which she wore to an evening event in which incidentally Prince Charles would also confess about his affair. The dress which has now been auctioned for millions, was considered too risqué by Diana herself. Sometimes I wonder if she knew about her charm and enormous aura. The entire current royal family pales in comparison to her. 

On that note, this week’s wrap-up ends. 

At long last, after a 21-day (!) hiatus, I have returned to my familiar space. A lot happened in the meantime and I can’t get it all down. I will start off with the most recent goings-on: 

1. This evening I picked up a book by Eugene Rabkin (Torn: Fashion and Postmodernism) which dwells on the relationship between fashion and postmodernism and how the latter’s undefinability and lack of inventiveness have come to define the former. I have been only a few pages into the book and I feel I have already learnt a great deal about how fashion has transformed over the course of last two centuries, from Parisian haute bourgeoisie style, informed by Christian Dior and the like, and Vivienne Westwood’s clothes that screamed of London street sensibility and punk, to the most recent spectacle of de-experimentation and recycled consumerist fashion from the house of Off-white (read Virgil Abloff) that, in my opinion, dwells on nostalgia at the cost of newness. In fact this school of fashion has dispensed with the idea of newness and the Avant-garde — which is challenging to create but rewarding — for something much simpler (and shallower): tweaking what’s already there. Regurgitation. 
2. Mr. Trump’s (or should we call him Willy Wonka? ‘Don de Disco’ would be even more merrier) much-reviled grouping, the BRICS, are meeting again, next weekend, here in Delhi. There is so much hullabaloo surrounding the upcoming summit, but so little substance, I’m afraid. 
3. The Naked Sleeper is one of the less appreciated gems in Sigrid Nunez’s oeuvre. I haven’t read The Friend yet. This was my first foray into American literary fiction and the experience, expectedly, was not disappointing. The plot is slow-paced and there were certain characters that stood out and resonated with me deeply. Rosalind, the protagonist Nona’s mother, is a clear favourite. She ‘came across’ (to use film critic Sajin Shrijith’s derided phrase) as likeable and relatable to me. Roy, Nona’s husband, we can safely assume, is a ‘green flag’. Nona was the one I found hard to get along with — perhaps because I didn’t like her outlook and proclivities — her desire to be liked by men especially, and her wanton adventures with other men. But Nona’s character develops by the end of the novel. Should we thank yoga for it? Just like her mother, I too disapprove of the goofy gurus along the West Coast preying on soul-searching, capitalism-assaulted Americans — whom Nona took a liking to. But Nunez’s description of the sun salutation repertoire, as Nona practices it in the form of a spiritual calling at the end, deserves praise for its precision. Perhaps Nunez is a fan of ‘hard’ yoga too. 
4. Sonia Gandhi’s much awaited memoir titled ‘Belonging’ will hit the shelves on November 10th. I have pre-ordered my copy, of course. But the drama that preceded its publication will be an unforgettable lore in the publishing world. Penguin India was the anointed one but later pulled the plugs saying that it found ‘objectionable content’ in it. News reports say that references to the RSS, Modi, and the politics of the right-wing, ruffled a few feathers at the publishing house. Since this debacle, I’ve been seeing tweets and reels describing how ‘flightless’ (of course) and spineless (well, yes) penguins are. It’s not the first time that Penguin India stooped so low; Wendy Doniger, Joe Sacco, General Naravane — all of their books were pulped by the organisation due to ‘anti-establishment’ content in them. That being said, Harper Hollins has finalised a deal and is set to publish Mrs. Gandhi’s memoir. Given the uproar over its publication, I’m curious to see what’s in there. Right after my trip to Japan, I’ll dive into it. 
5. Gloria Steinem, the figure synonymous with American feminism, passed away last week at 92. I found her to be an immensely inspiring woman, one I could learn from and relate to at ease — because her struggles often mirrored mine. She spent close to two years in India after her graduation (and studied at my alma mater, Miranda House, for a year!). The concept of Talking Circles in her practice — of people gathering in a group and discussing — was inspired by her Indian experience.  But I encountered a mixed verdict online about Gloria Steinem’s work. This is aptly captured by The Economist’s titling of this week’s obit dedicated to her: Gloria Steinem gave the feminist movement mass-market appeal. People accuse her of being a puppet of the CIA. More precisely, people allege that the CIA recruited her to sidestep the more immediate questions of class and the imminent working-class struggle by pushing gender issues and (white-privileged) feminism to the forefront of their agenda. In a 2015 interview, she denied these accusations. She was disappointed at the Roe v. Wade verdict which overturned a ruling that granted women abortion rights; in response she dedicated her memoir to the surgeon who performed her abortion. The right of women to decide what to do with their bodies is a critical component of American feminism and Steinem had long campaigned for abortion rights. The firebrand feminist was thrust into the spotlight when she suggested that young women supported Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton because “the boys are with Bernie.” Steinem was not the stereotypical feminist. Americans had been used to the dowdy, harried, spinster feminists who were too angry with all the frown lines and never spared a smile. Gloria Steinem was, on the other hand, glamorous. She was adored for her looks, physique, style and wit. But her beauty played in her favour: she seized the media opportunities that came her way to bring attention to the troubles faced by women in society such as wage-gap and abortion. The most prominent of these was her two-part expose of the dire working conditions at the NYC playboy club. She became the butt of ridicule following its publication. Ultimately, no feminist movement — past or future — can ignore her profound contributions to the cause, regardless of criticisms surrounding her methods. 
6. Mayor world over — from ZK Mamdani and Sadiq Khan to Ekrem Imamoglu — are becoming popular. Mamdani is even more popular than he was before taking office. Sadiq Khan’s violent-crime strategy is succeeding; a person is more likely to be stabbed to death in New York than in London. Imamoglu is the most threatening opponent to Erdogan, and the public support was so massive that the government had to arrest him over (allegedly false) corruption charges. 
7. In my option, decentralisation is not a panacea to all that ails a democracy. Decentralisation of power also brings decentralisation of corruption. The case of domestic councillors in Kerala sabotaging development projects in view of their personal agendas involving money, power, local networks and party appeasement, is a case in point. 
8. Anna Wintour, who first discovered the designer Galliano, is working to rehabilitate his career. His trajectory slumped after he made a couple of anti-semitic remarks. An exhibition at the Met that was set to open in 2027 was cancelled following pressures and concerns from donors, civil leaders and the like. The outcome feels unnecessarily vengeful — given that all these statements were made more than 15 years ago. 
9. Researcher Erin C. Westgate talks about the meaning and attentional components of boredom. Boredom is not a monotonous condition. Boredom becomes meaning-based when we lose our sense of purpose in what we are doing. This kind is dangerous. Whereas, boredom acquires an attentional dimension when we simply don’t pay attention. It happens due to a mismatch between our cognitive capacity and the effort required for the task at hand. For example, imagine trying to solve a puzzle when one is drained. 
10. Lastly, for those who are hyper-present online: do you notice the seemingly hyper-realistic but bot-like comments flooding many Instagram posts lately? These are engineered by bot farms: they are sophisticated multi-million dollar operations run like a factory line up with careful synchrony. The concept  emerged in the 1990s when they were used by hackers to send spam and knock down websites. However, now their utility has changed, for the worse. 

It was a pretty long week and quite an eventful one. To start with, I had the (mis)fortune of watching The End of Oak Street. So much screaming and family squabbling—not to mention kids out of their heads, like venturing out into the dark to rescue their pet—all while dinosaurs are hounding you in your own neighbourhood. Anne Hathaway going berserk is probably my least favourite genre. Why is she always in blue in almost every frame? It seemed as though the costume designer couldn’t think of anything other than denim jackets and trousers to depict the movie’s 80s settings. And damn, those dinosaurs were so ugly. Jurassic Park fooled me! 

Interestingly, the movie has been getting positive critical reception in the West. One of my favourite critics dubs it “the scariest dinosaur film since the 1993 Steven Spielberg classic, period.” I also missed the allusion to the queer relationship between two characters. My bad. I was busy hammering out this review on my notes app. I’d rate this movie a bland 6/10 because it didn’t live upto my expectations, and certainly not after two consecutive nights of watching the Avengers’ Infinity War and Endgame. My mother remarked that it is perhaps time for Anne Hathaway to pack up her bags. 

Two days later, on a sultry Sunday afternoon, we decided to go to Royal China — the restaurant that served the best Chinese food in town. The Gandhis were regulars there. We didn’t decide to have our lunch there on a hunch; we had booked in advance. I wouldn’t be lying if I said every time I went there I hoped I would bump into that Indo-Italian prince, Rahul Gandhi. As we were gulping down some spoonfuls of egg fried rice, Sonia Gandhi walked in. My mother became visibly excited because here was our dream coming true. And then almost faintly, my mother murmured, “if only Rahul Gandhi too were there.” My father and  grandmother kept imploring my mother on phone to greet Mrs. Gandhi. We were unsure because we wondered if we would be perceived as overstepping and disturbing their private time. 

Just then, almost as if the universe had conspired to give us exactly what we wanted, Rahul Gandhi dashed inside in a slate-blue polo, looking as if he were walking into his second home. He sat next to his mother and the elderly couple accompanying her. We gasped for a second — we couldn’t believe our eyes. For the next couple of minutes, we forgot about the main course before us, mindlessly munching on whatever was within reach. For our attention had fully shifted to the man sitting just two tables away. He could see us and so could we. We couldn’t help but stare; every time our gaze wandered and met his, we would immediately pull back and pretend to be serious out of sheer embarrassment. We were also slightly abashed at our giggles and animated glances at each other unlike everybody else around us who pretended not to notice the  would-be future Prime Minister sitting across from them — at least until then. We saw the man at the table next to us peeking at Mr. Gandhi (or rather, Rahul) out of the corner of his eye. Even a bubbly boy in a turban couldn’t help but glance at him mischievously, just like us. We kept ordering despite feeling full; we had to kill time to stay there until he left — or more accurately, buy time so that we could meet. “Chamomile tea and a mud cake, please,” we said to the waiter who was beaming more than usual. We didn’t want to take a photograph — that would be too tacky, I felt. Just a hi and a smile, would do — anything to satiate these fan-girls. 

It looked like he had finished his meal and was picking his teeth with the toothpick — an act I’m willing to pass off as normal human behaviour. And then again his darting eyes found ours. My mother gave a tentative half-bow in his direction and he responded with a polite nod. That nod instantly gave my mother and me the courage to rise from our seats and walk over to his table. 

The moments that followed feel blurred in my memory. My body went stiff as I stood up. I nudged my mother to lead, and I followed, my gait incredibly rigid. Words stumbled from my mother’s lips as she tried to introduce herself to him in a faint, muffled voice, “late….MP….Shanavas’ ….daughter.” Before she could even finish speaking, her words trailing off, he reached out to shake her hand. I stood beside her with the diligence of a schoolgirl. When my mother mentioned I was her daughter, he shook my hands as I introduced myself. His warm, youthful smile, will never leave me; never before had I seen a man so polite, charming, and kind. After the brief interaction, we retreated to our table. We avoided making eye contact with anyone even though I could sense the eyes of every surrounding table tracking us all the way back.  

We sat down at our table and finished off the last bits of mud cake left on the plate, our hearts lighter and more elated. Now we could finally savour the chocolatey delight in peace. Almost immediately, we noticed people around us slowly getting up to approach Rahul. Some of them even took photographs, despite it being a high-end restaurant. Everyone had been holding back, just like us, for fear of appearing intrusive. They needed the spark to get going, and we offered it with our brief act of chivalry (I am exaggerating, of course). We paid the bill, left the restaurant, and walked out to the parking area to collect our vehicle. On our way out, we spotted Rahul, his mother, and their family friends climbing into theirs. As we drove through the quiet, tree-lined roads of Chanakyapuri, we couldn’t help but feel a mixture of satisfaction, delight, and amazement. Our hearts and tummies were full. Great encounters are rare; this was an unforgettable Sunday afternoon. 

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Your much-cherished ‘The Week Gone By’ will return in two weeks. The author is currently on a holiday break.

This afternoon as I looked into my phone, the news of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) surging across Europe flashed on my screen. Although I’m not one that should be even mildly worried by this prospect because I’m neither a European resident nor a sexually active person, it sowed enough caution in me. 

Some like to blame dating apps and its popularity; the correlation can be hard to miss for the average reader. Some lament that shagging has become more lax with people using condoms less and less, though there is even lesser evidence to support this hypothesis. What is evident is that STIs, despite being treatable can be devastating and wreck lives if left untreated for long; women may become infertile, while syphilis can kill. To tackle the issue head on, we need more data — crucial bits like whether the infections are transmitted homosexually or heterosexually — that is best captured through strict monitoring. Men who have sex with men, migrants and sex workers, are the groups most at risk. The surge spans the entire continent from France to countries as tiny as Malta. 

Malta has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this week. The latest one involves it being the hub (aka ‘tax haven’) for corporates looking to evade taxes (the NYT did a story about how Crocs leveraged its small office in Malta for tax benefits). Companies set up their ‘two-person’ headquarters in the country claiming its their base to exploit its lenient tax rules, which can fall as low as zero percentage, with the right manoeuvres. The Big Four help the companies work their way through these loopholes and seize maximum benefits. To Donald Trump pulling the USA out of the OECD’s Double Tax Treaty, things look grim for global tax administration — but yippee for the MNCs. 

Since we started out with STIs and the potential correlation between the surge in dating apps and such diseases, there’s another trend that’s been on the rise: Hobbyamory. To put it short and neat, it is the phenomenon of singles retreating into themselves and developing hobbies instead of endlessly swiping and going on dates that will never work out in the first place. Well, let’s say this has more to do with the disillusionment with dating apps itself. The latter sold romantic fantasies promising that a swipe might be all it takes to change our lives. In essence, it promised fast results in an area where the idea of success itself is illusory, one that is arrived at through compromise and open-mindedness.

In truth, love is less a fantasy and more a gritty partnership. It heartens me to see that there are other people like me who would rather prefer their tactile creations coming to fruition (such as a finished sketch, clay pot or piece of writing) than seek love during times when it is not possible. Sometimes we need to give ourselves a break to recoup ourselves and bring out the best in us before we thirstily hanker after love. Give it a rest. Sometimes love is found in places where we least expect it. Alexander Pope said, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed,” and on reading this for the first time I remember thinking, ‘this enlightenment-era boffin is damn right!’

One longstanding hobby of mine has been to parse dense economics passages from The Economist and learn new concepts. This is my last-ditch attempt to think like an economist because it’s a job I wanted — during my whimsical teen years when my dreams had no limits — just as much as I wanted to be a journalist, editor, or football analyst (no, seriously!).

An intellectual adventure of a similar sort two days ago took me down the rabbit hole of Argentina’s peso situation. Javier Milei has been devaluing the peso to shore up exports. Logically, if we are going by the nominal exchange rate (NER) alone, this should make Argentinian products cheaper and more competitive in the global market, However, Argentina also suffers from inflation. When the rate of inflation outpaces the rate of devaluation — in other words, if domestic prices rise faster than the exchange rate adjusts, the real exchange rate (RER) appreciates. The peso becomes overvalued and paradoxically Argentinian goods become less competitive and expensive compared to its peers in the market. This puts pressure on Argentina’s paltry reserves as the central bank scrambles to sell dollars to keep the rate intact. 

I came across an interesting quote by the economist Joan Robinson last week that appears in her book ‘Economic Philosophy’’. It says, “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all.” At first glance, it looks provocative — and indeed it’s been intended to be one. A Redditor described it as “something a capitalist would say.” 

For starters, Robinson was a devoted adherent of Keynesian economics who became one of the leaders of post-Keynesian economic thought. The quote highlights a painful reality of life and survival: sometimes having a low-paid job is still better than not having a job. Because it still brings income, howsoever little. Even when the capitalist tries to extract surplus value, it must employ people, invest in infrastructure, and generate output, all of which inevitably raises material living standards even though it was not the capitalist’s primary motive. In short, Robinson implies that in our imperfect economic system being employed is still better than not being employed at all. Her quote was a dry, sardonic way to put it even though it may seem like it is coming from an unlikely place. 

There are many things to admire and romanticise about Japan, from Washi tapes to glass toilets — and one that makes the list this week is its disaster preparedness. Twin earthquakes of a dangerous magnitude ravaged Kumamoto a decade ago, destroying thousands of buildings and killing hundreds. But the disaster also became an important learning point that changed how the Japanese responded to future disasters of a similar scale. We saw the latest exemplification of this in Kyushu, where the estimated casualties were significantly low at 38. Earthquake-proof infrastructure helped build this resilience. As the number of earthquakes keeps mounting across the globe (just this morning I woke up to the news of a 5.3-magnitude one rocking western Colombia), it would help governments to take a leaf out of Japan’s playbook.

Lastly, I wish to broach a subject that has vexed me for the past few months: the purported relationship between Islamism and Nazism. The discussion took a turn for the worst with the publication of the 2014 book, ‘Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East.’ The book alleged a shared synchrony between the goals and ideologies of the Islamists and Nazis, citing their shared opposition to British and French colonialism and hostility towards Jews, by drawing heavily on Amin al-Husseini’s rhetoric. Nearly all of these points can be disputed with facts: for one, the antagonism towards Jewish state (not ‘Jews’ as a category) is more a territorial issue than a religious one. Unlike the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Husseini, who drew an equivalence between Nazism and Islamism, the general discourse in the Arab world at the time was critical of Nazi methodologies. While it is true that the Nazis ran propaganda to whip up anti-Jewish sentiment in the MENA, the impact of Mufti’s ideas on Nazi policies are exaggerated. The book understandably elicited mixed reactions, with some scholars expressing concerns over its speculative aspects and skewed focus. 

I’m not a film buff. Yet I found myself drawn to finding out the role of the editor in making a film. They are so integral to the process yet rarely in lime light. At least as far as movie promotions go. Of course, once in a while the technicians do get invited but it’s not that anybody is looking out specifically for them. The National Award-winning editor Midhun Murali says some appreciation is coming their way. There are discussions about different ‘styles’ of editing – something unheard of previously.

So, with my heart full of hope and curiosity, I picked up the classic: Walter Murch’s In The Blink Of An Eye. The opening quote in the preface of the book was enough to hook me: 

Igor Stravinsky loved expressing himself and wrote a good deal on interpretation. As he bore a volcano within him, he urged restraint. Those without even the vestige of a volcano within them nodded in agreement, raised their baton, and observed restraint, while Stravinsky himself conducted his own Apollon Musagète as if it were Tchaikovsky, We who had read him listened and were astonished.

– The Magic Lantern by Ingmar Bergman

I saw an editor on a cinema forum say that the principles often applied to editing a written piece is eerily similar to those used in editing film. One of them recommended Stephen King’s On Writing as a good place to start. It should be next on my reading list this month. I’m halfway through Murch’s magnum opus. The impression I got was that the key to making a cut is to preserve and transmit the emotion. Alignment, frame and the like do matter, but emotion and story arc trumps everything else. 

This last week I learnt a bit about textile art. Turns out I was wrong about it all along. In short, I understood it’s about using thread/cloth to create art. I was absolutely enraptured by Faith Ringgold’s quilt art. Unlike the bundles of fibres and other odd things Judith Scott wrapped around in a tight squiggle-like coil, I can’t wrap my head around her’art’ works. Maybe I’m not built for this sort of thing. Modern art is not my forte (so chimed in everybody else too). 

The latest pet peeve of art critics sitting inside the happy confines of online mags like It’s Nice That seems to be that celebrities keep failing in their attempts to create art. Their paradigmatic examples are Adrian Brody, Ed Sheeran and Jack White. While I agree with characterisation of the former two as art ‘novices’ (to use a milder term than outrightly calling them ‘failures’), Jack White has been creating unique pieces — like hiding poetry in cushions, writing invoices in crayons and the captivating Red Tree at his debut exhibition in London. 

A commenter pointed out that in the age of AI literally anybody creating art in its raw form is a welcome development. I agree, and I believe unnecessarily picking on it reflects poorly on the critic than the art/artist. The internet is now flooded with AI art — part of what makes it so boring and even irritating to the eye is the lack of genuineness. I prefer to point out its insincerity rather than lack of originality as I believe no art is truly original. Art is, according to me, an imitation — an imitation of things that inspire us, be it the nature or something illusory on our minds. There’s something about the human emotion that shapes art which AI simply cannot simulate despite the endless prompts humans supply it in a bid to create on screen what’s on their mind. AI extrapolates based on the existing dataset and reflects the biases inherent in the sample it was fed. Moreover creating art using AI requires that one come up with a neat prompt that affirms exactly what the artist wants. And that’s the hard part. Because creating art is a non-linear process where one might start off with one idea, only end up at its polar opposite midway through the process. It is amid these ‘twists and turns’ — in the words of Christoph Niemann — that art is born.

The latest controversy that has engulfed the football world is FIFA’s decision to sell 20% stake in its subsidiary company — FIFA Forward Enterprise — to private investors. This would involve partly privatising the World Cup, with elements of dynamic pricing, expensive tickets, in a bid to reach American-football level revenues. But the fierce backlash to the proposed plan, led by the UEFA (with which it is always at loggerheads) and CONCACAF, prompted FIFA to scrap the plan. 

Menswear couture has long been a niche club and only recently with the explosion of Derek Guy (the menswear dude on Twitter) that it has become a hot topic in public discourse. One writer in the NYTimes says that, taken in by the latest fad they too plunged into the world of menswear and found themselves marvelling at the delicate fabrics and fine stitches of bespoke pieces. After flirting with several options on display, they finally bought a $700 jacket. It had no glaring labels or logos, so they didn’t expect it to draw attention. However, to their embarrassment, strangers at the supermarket and on the streets would compliment their jacket as they walked by. They concluded that sophisticated menswear is not meant for overly self-conscious fellas like the writer. They may have a point there. I’ve been there myself, but this is not the takeaway I’d come with. The delight and comfort of wearing such clothes regularly over time quietly wipes away the heightened self-awareness of the first-timer as one’s personality quietly gels in with their chosen attire. And the sense of confidence that comes with it is quite something. It’s a phenomenon that cannot be stated plainly in words, but experienced. 

Conscious choice of clothes and intentional dressing sow the seeds of that which sets one apart from fashion trends and other commercial obsessions — taste. And ultimately, sartorial tastes reflect one’s personality and values more than any social media virtue-signalling. 

1. Almost a week has passed since last week’s football debacle. It seems like every member of the AFA, from the players to the staff, were reeling from the hurt of Sunday night over the past one week — just like me. And now one person has come out to speak, having regained his senses — Lionel Scaloni. His words perfectly captured what I had always felt about the players, their unrelenting spirit, their fortitude to stick together in times of adversity and have each other’s back. Perhaps most memorably this line explains everything about their tournament journey and the thoughts we’ve been silently having: “continuing to fight even when their legs no longer respond to what their minds are asking them to do.” These were indeed a group of warriors. It was the same team that had played and won in 2022; now four years older, the will remained, but it was in conflict with their physicality. When the psychological confronts the material [limitations], an inevitable tension arises that cannot be easily resolved and often expresses itself through frustration and sometimes even violence. Because sometimes, some emotions cannot be contained. The trope of the ideal sportsman spirit needs to die somewhere. 
2. In other news, the CJP protest met its objective and the Union Education Minister resigned — a reassuring albeit bittersweet closure given the police brutality and arrests that unfolded when the protests entered its heated phase. At its best, the CJP is a pressure group. Any attempt by it to expand its wings and become a full fledged political party is a hard pass. There are legions of political parties in India already struggling to gain foothold. Moreover a divided opposition is not ideal for a healthy, functioning democracy. I’m not contesting the idea whether India is truly a democracy or not — that is something for the V-Dem Democracy Report to establish (who’s latest report classifies India an ‘Electoral Autocracy’). 
3. Corruption is universally abhorred. Yet, from a particularistic viewpoint it may not be as abhorrent — especially for the party involved in it when considering the circumstances. Sometimes corruption can help spur economic growth by bypassing red tapes: rules and regulations that muddy the paperwork and do more harm than good. They can act as little financial incentives for the officer, helping companies obtain contracts swiftly. The major caveat is that this mode works better in developing or least developed countries — such as those in Africa or South Asia. It is also a far-from-ideal way of driving industrialisation and is often seen in positive light only when it’s the last resort. Corruption, moreover, is not just a legal but also moral phenomenon. Bribery fits every framework of corruption — however prior to 1977, it was lawful for US companies to offer bribes to secure foreign contracts. The SEP says, “corruption is not at bottom simply a matter of law; rather it is fundamentally a matter of morality.” The ‘grease-the-wheels’ hypothesis also gives credence to the corruption-may-not-be-all-that-bad idea. One can’t help feeling topsy-turvy about the whole debate. 
4. The Oswald is a masterpiece by Dan Yaccarino. I can’t overstate how much of an impact the show has left on my childhood, outlook on life and happiness. Even today I yearn back to go to those cosy evenings where I would sit with my eyes glued to the blue Octopus and little sunflower on the screen and sip my tea heartily. The other day someone was talking about the therapeutical effects of watching the Oswald as an adult and I’ve been thinking of rewatching the series since. 
5. Oswald was a deeply empathetic figure. Well, turns out the ‘right’ despises empathy. Or to be fair to their perspective, ‘suicidal empathy’. It is a term coined by Gad Saad — with whose work I became only recently acquainted thanks to the World Cup — which denotes the kind of empathy — the excessive, uncritical compassion — that is detrimental to rational and optimal courses of action geared to self-preservation and security. Think of ‘dying to be kind.’ I can see a parallel with utilitarian thinking here. For instance, when a plane has entered a dangerous situation during a flight and asks its passengers to buckle up and wear the required lifeguards, it is always optimal to secure yourself first before looking after the elderly who may be travelling with you. But some, out of guilt, indebtedness, and extreme compassion, try to secure their elderly co-passengers first. This may take time and may not even be successful and by chance the plane suddenly starts evacuation measures the person as well as the elderly passengers are not secured properly and may die. However there are certain glaring cons: folks who espouse this belief are hard on crimes, closed to immigration, and oppose foreign aid. One of the biggest critics of suicidal empathy is — that’s right, you named it, Elon Musk. Need we say more? 
6. Plastic surgery has become normalised; almost every well-regarded hospital has a specialised aesthetics division — such has been the demand. But these are not just driven by disfigurements and other bodily distortions which require surgeries or treatments —rather the need to replicate the ideal instagrammable face. Social media has manufactured the perfect female, an illusory category subsuming and overriding all feminine diversities in appearance and shape  in the world. Even teenage influencers are devising their own ‘anti-aging’ regimens! More people in their 20s are taking Botox injections than ever. A dermatologist in the UK says that most patients who approach them with acne wouldn’t have had it in the first place had they not used ten different products on their face in the name of skincare. In what is a breath of fresh air, some Gen Z-ers are defying the trend and embracing natural beauty. Fashion, after all, is cyclical. And beauty trends are no different. The seeds of change are already sprouting: unpainted, natural, trimmed nails are in vogue. Before long, this welcome ‘trend’ will (hopefully) take over the visage too. 
7. I’ve long been an admirer of CSR funding and how it enables a plethora of social causes that would otherwise die out from dire state funding. In Kerala especially observing how companies spend on noble causes at close quarters gave me hope in the welfare capitalist system. But the framework seems to suffer from a few pitfalls: namely, shelling out money to meet CSR targets without  focusing on long-term tangible impact; poorly designed low-quality programmes; unequal distribution of funds across regions and causes; lastly, and more importantly, companies may favour visible surface-level interventions than those targeting structural changes. CSR is incredible resource because it makes sufficient amounts of capital for social causes and normalises corporate giving. What’s required to make the policy succeed is to measure outcomes than spending alone, and frame compliance targets around that.