The Brave Pedestrian

Right-wing politicians are constantly trying to make you feel it is your duty to be "proud" of being Indian. They keep trying to make you part of an unthinking herd. And that is only the tip of the bullshit-iceberg. 90% of the bullshit iceberg is below the intellectual water-level, where you can't see it. It is our highest duty -- our calling -- to resist being herded. It is crucial to be mindful of hidden messages -- efforts by politicians or religious gurus to curtail our freedom of speech, thought and action. If you feel under pressure to blindly hero-worship Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhi, or Narendra Modi, or Prophet Mohammed, or Guru Granth Sahib, or our army jawans, or any other icon, beware! If you feel under social pressure to unthinkingly "accept the values that these great people/ great books represent", beware! If someone wants you to believe that there was a golden era -- a Rama-Rajya or a pre-British or pre-Mughal time wh...

16th November, 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's next big surprise may well be to declare a state of National Emergency. Here's how Modi's game plan for declaring Emergency can play out, step-by-step: 1) Thanks to demonetization, millions of tiny marginal businesses around the country, such as hawkers, tailoring shops, roadside tea-shops, cycle-rickshaws, fish-vendors, etc. will not be able to bear the loss of a few weeks livelihood due to our present "cashless" state, and they will close down. 2) Millions of vegetable farmers and small dairy farms which supply perishable goods like eggs and chicken will suffer terrible losses due to spoilage of their goods, which regular consumers will avoid buying simply because they have no cash. 3) Widespread business failures, cash shortages, joblessness and hunger will cause desperation, strikes and rioting. 4) Modi's right-wing bhakt army will brand these strikers, rioters and looters as anti-natio...