Caste Away

A unicorn is a title earned by a startup with a valuation of at least $1 billion. That's a big achievement if you consider the disappointing stats the startupverse throws up every and now. All things dreamt and done, only 5% of all the startups in the world stand to see the sunrise in two years' time. Which is precisely why there are only 170 unicorns in the world today. Out of which, nine are Indian. They are as follow:

• Flipkart (Banias)
• InMobi (Brahmin)
• Mu Sigma (Brahmin)
• Zomato (Bania)
• Ola (Bania)
• Paytm (Brahmin)
• Quikr (Brahmin)
• Shopclues (Bania)
• Snapdeal (Banias)

Interestingly, more than half of them are founded by Banias and the rest by Brahmins. Not to suggest anything ulterior here, but the emerging pattern is interesting given how some members of some communities in our country tend to be more driven in some areas (business in this context) than the rest. Startup India is no different in this peculiar regard. 

Pehle aap, pehle aap

Social media is a strange animal. You can't tame it because you can't be sure how it is. It's quite impossible to be certain what will click or won't. The only thing one can do is try. Punch the keys and post the stuff and hope it works. Sometimes, the best of thoughts and campaigns fade away without a blip while the lamest of memes go viral. It's an unfair circus but incredibly entertaining. There's a perverse form of justice here. Many a times, the success of a tweet or a status message or a Instagram post depends a lot on the initial pickup. The early momentum. Herd mentality has a huge role to play in this phenomenon. You see people liking something and you force yourself to like it too. You basically join the crowd, not out of peer pressure. You can choose to be aloof and not click on that green or blue button. It's totally up to you but something in you persuades you to join the gang. It's like volunteering to join the jury of validation. A cute practice and something i've observed for about a decade now. If a tweet gathers 25 RTs within 10 minutes, chances are it will cross 100 easily (although 100 isn't a big number when you compare it to the number of people who work with you on your office floor) but then, that's the beauty of the game! If you ask me, the way a crowd behaves isn't very different from the way it behaves in a local train. If a beggar enters a compartment and people ignore him for a long while, he's going to go marginally empty handed. But if one person offers him a change immediately, then others will be compelled to do the same out of dear pressure. Bottomline: Begging has never been more sophisticated. 

An open letter to Shobhaa De

Go home. You're drunk.

Without a mask or cape

You remember that scene from Spider-Man movie wherein our hero puts everything in him to stop a train from flying into doom? By the end of the scene, you almost feel his weariness. He could barely stand. But then, superheroes aren't meant to stay tall all the time. They fall again and again and again; the reason they do so is they rise each time. Yes, some clichés are too necessary to be ignored. However, do you remember that scene? You do? Good. That guy was supposed to be me. At least that's what i thought when i was a little kid. Nose deep in comic books, i had a fancy view of the world where everything was in black and white. I was going to be the good guy and i was going to get rid of the bad guys. In other words, i was going to be a poolis and i'll arrest the chor. Of course, this was just another phase (prior to which, i wanted to be Mowgli and following which, i wanted to be a cricketer) and didn't last long enough. A convincing explanation for why i didn't hold on to the fantasy of becoming a superhero might be impossible but i firmly believe that our childhood shapes us in an irreversible fashion. While watching Daredevil (season 1), i couldn't help but keep going back to my fantastical past. I could have been that guy today had i focused harder. You never know. 

Survival of the spirit

It's that time of the year when the so-called 'Spirit of Mumbai' gets invoked. It's very similar to the imaginary fourth seat that you demand for in a crowded local train. They don't exist but still do somehow for convenience. This seasonal garment has nothing to do with the fabric of humanity. It's an abstract reality, that's all. A function of necessity more than a root of compassion. You can't sit at home for long no matter how much it rains. Your financial conditions don't permit. So you venture out, keeping the cogs of the city running. And the ones who have a way with words term it spirit, not helplessness. That's how the language of a city unable to rectify the wrongs speak. That's also how an island city keeps itself afloat. It knows no other method. This is it. A poetry abandoned by reality; a lullaby cautioned by nightmare. If only there was a way to figure out why does the city clog after a heavy rainfall EVERY SINGLE YEAR without fail. How is it even possible for a metropolitan to be not prepared—consistently. Two monsoons ago, i was trudging along on the railway track towards Kurla station after our train broke down at LTT. On my way, i stumbled upon two lil' rats soaked and trembling on the rail. The two must have lost their families to flood. Fortunately, none of the people walking by bothered them. Perhaps, both the species, no matter how different they are, are one in the spirit of survival.

L for learning

About a decade ago, we as a nation had no idea what dyslexia was all about. Many of us thought it was something best left to the dictionary. And then they released Taare Zameen Par (2007); a film that dealt with delicate issue of learning disabilities. It was beautiful. The entire film, including the hard-hitting songs (yes, even the one that made dads look bad), was a much-needed homage to serious yet entertaining cinema. Something Bollywood is otherwise not keen on. Moreover, there hasn't been a mainstream Hindi film before or after TZP which brought forward a child's innocent lack of control in such a compelling manner. Speaking of which, my nephew could only compel me to laugh at his learning disabilities. He came home from school one day and told me he failed in two subjects... while flashing three fingers!

Lean on yourself

At lunch, they asked me today whether i'm a right-wing or a left-wing. They are confused about my leaning and i don't blame them. To set the record straight, i don't like the idea of having to lean when it comes to politics, especially when we're all fully aware of its filth. One day, i'm expressing sympathy at Rahul Gandhi's helpless state of affair while on another day, i'm spewing bile against the hollow dynasties that has become our country's legacy. One day, i'm requesting people to at least give NaMo a chance because it's quite clear by now you can't see how things really are when you're blindfolded by bias. On other days, i remind the world to not forget what fascism accomplished in Godhra. Some days, i'm all for Kashmir's azadi from totalitarianism while on others, i wonder why kids are bunking schools to throw stones at men with guns. There are days when i fully grasp Europeans' fear of immigrants but then, there are afternoons, when i know for sure there's a weird colonial justice in mixing whites with the brownies. On a normal day, i vouch for the spread of the stronger culture, the greater culture, a culture that gives strength to values like liberty and equality. On a not-so-normal day, i'm reduced to accept that our species is fucked beyond repair. Some afternoons, i watch a Hollywood film and begin to wax eloquence for the progress American civilization made in a relatively short(er) period of time. Some evenings, i can trace all the root causes of the problems in the world back to the USA. Some nights, i accept Karma indeed worked overtime to get someone like Donald Trump as a presidential nominee. There are mornings when i wake up and i feel blessed to have been born a Hindu. After all, what's there not to like about a philosophy that just...well..lets you be? And then there are mornings i wake up only to acknowledge that the crystal clear philosophy has been hijacked by muddled personalities who can't go beyond a shallow word called Hindutva. I don't have the patience to lean on to anything that has a human touch; something that is based itself in hypocrisy and convenience. It's not going to last forever. One should lean on something that will. I wish i could lean on the sky.