For the first time in 25 years, Indian urban (savarna) elites are no longer relevant to the discourse in politics, economy, society and culture. From woke hipsters to hustle tech bros-- all soft elites are now irrelevant.

It's that beautiful time of the year when sad, single, savarna millennials will get together for the 'Diwali Party' while savarna gen Z monsters will take a break from demanding action & accountability to return home from Sonepat colleges to take selfies in ethnic wear with their bigoted, fascist-minded parents ~and all this playing out to the tune of 'Chaiyaa Chaiyaa' in the background. Truly a blessed time!

Coldplay concert tickets are unavailable and elite savarns are very very angry about it. Ladoos at Tirupati have been found to be tainted and a young woman died of overwork at E&Y. An action packed episode.

Folks are "accidentally" killing people on "suspicion" of transporting beef, an old uncle is bullied by dudes on a moving train, elite schools are banning non-veg tiffin boxes & kids think Kalki 2898 AD is based on history-- in the middle of this social breakdown, your therapist asks you to ground yourself by touching grass.

Welcome to hell!

Our esteemed Lordships at the Supreme Court has spoken. SC/ST "creamy" layer should be skimmed they have suggested helpfully. An utterly, butterly episode deliciously unpacking the judgement on SC ST subcategorizing & privilege.

A deep dive on US 'Empire' from Gramsci, Adorno, Chomsky & Howard Zinn with special mentions to Kurt Vonnegut & Malcolm X ~ the Buffalo puts on his US history/politics "hat" literally & figuratively & breaks down Trump's rise, Biden's descent, Kamala aunty stepping up.
Is this the collapse into 'big' evil or have we seen that already under smoother (war) criminals like Obama, Clinton & Bush.

Airports are falling apart, streets are flooded, air is unbreathable, its so hot that ACs are blowing up-- who is responsible for this? who created this mess?

PS. stop blaming the politicians & enjoy the IPA!

From NEET & UGC NET, to coaching class mafia, to private universities erasing caste-based affirmative action, to Not-Found-Suitable scams, to student suicides, to Teach for India, to NCERT tweaks, to changing SC/ST overseas scholarship policies, to everything.. its all broken.

Fixing the Indian education system is nobody's priority.

Reactions to the Lok Sabha 2024 election results. I talk in particular of UP, Bihar, Bengal, Telangana mainly & the missed opportunities of INDIA in MP, Odisha, etc. I also talk of the future of BSP, VBA & Ambedkarite leaders like Azad in era of "savarna social justice politics" & potential future of Modi-Shah & BJP.

as Lok Sabha elections wind down, amid talk of seat numbers & voter percentages, we try to look at the softer idea of social fabric & civility which has broken down across small-towns, especially in north India. 


Annie Zaidi, one of my favorite contemporary writers, shares some of her insights & experiences about what it means to be Muslim, what it means to feeling belonging in a society that has changed in ways that votes cannot fix.