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Showing posts from October, 2025

The Illusion of Order: When 'Civilized' Means 'Sterilized'

 I remember my first visit to the United States over a decade ago. Landing from my small, bustling hometown of Meerut, India, I was instantly awestruck. The silence, the systematic flow of traffic, the lack of honking—it was a world engineered for flawless human convenience. Everything was neat, clean, and in order . For nearly a year, I was hypnotized. I praised this country for its efficiency, its cleanliness, and, notably, its lack of stray animals . Where were the dogs, the cows, the insects that are a normal part of life back home? The US, I thought, was truly a superior model of civilization. My clothes never even collected dust; it seemed the entire landscape was sterilized. But as the years passed, the hypnosis began to fade. I started asking a darker question: What is the price of this perfect order? The Cost of the Empty Road My initial praise for the US was based on what I didn't see: no stray animals, no swarming insects, no dust. I realized this absence wasn't a s...

When Words Lose Their Weight: Reflections on Changing Language and Values

madar chod, maki chut, randi ki aulad, teri maa ka bhosda.. no, this is not some fighting scene, this is two college students playing, and more amazingly, one of them is the girl from whom these beautiful words are coming out. It is not the first time that I have experienced this thing while working at a famous private university near Chandigarh; however, this time the repetition of these words was so prominent, loud and clear that it forced me to think and, more so, write on it. Occurrence, or I should say the utterance of these words from the mouths of female students, means that these words should be taken out of the list of abusive words and should be considered as normal speaking words. Well, if this is the case, then there is no point in writing on this topic further. I am no one or nothing to be discussing or, least of all, complaining of what is happening, but just wondering if being able to use these words confidently anywhere and anytime is the new sign of showing that you a...

Life Around the Mandis of Chandigarh

One of the unique things about living in the Chandigarh tri-city area is the vegetable market — or what we lovingly call the mandi . It’s been 15 years since I became a regular at these mandis, and I still remember my first visit vividly. Back then, coming from the Delhi side, it was quite an unusual experience for me. For those unfamiliar with the Chandigarh tri-city area, a mandi can be described as a vegetable market that operates on different days of the week in different sectors. These mandis are set up by groups of vegetable vendors — most of whom are farmers themselves — selling their produce directly to customers. The fruits and vegetables here are fresher and cost less compared to shops or supermarkets. At least, that’s what I’ve come to understand over the years. Coming from Meerut, I had never seen such an organized system for something as simple as buying vegetables. In Chandigarh, even this everyday activity has been given a structure — very much in line with the city’s ...