Brand new poster at the Newport @PATHTrain station.
"Casteism doesn't ride with us."
It's an official poster BTW, like many others saying that bigotry will not be tolerated.
Most have applauded this. But of course, some predictably went,
"USA should first fix its black lives matter & racism problem before lecturing us about caste."
Abey WhatsApp Whataboutery Warrior, this is not a "lecture" to India. It's a warning to their own riders.
These sanghis are in such perpetual insecurity & outrage mode that they think a train service connecting NJ&NYC, with about one third of its ridership Indian, posting warnings that "casteism will not be tolerated" is a lecture from USA to India and they must jump to defend caste.
"Nafrat aur bhedbhaav ko bardaasht nahin kiya jayega."
Which literally means
"Hate and bigotry will not be tolerated".
Taking this as some insult to India or Hinduism is like we say in Hindi, thief beard has a piece of straw.
What took the cake was the brilliant deduction that this was a "photoshopped fake" because some Failu-da is like, why would a "Port Authority" put up posters in train instead of ports. There also, projecting their misuse of Photoshop onto others. 🤦🏽♂️
Another clinching proof for them that this is *my* Photoshop work is
"The Hindi letters seem superimposed on top of some train image in the background to create false impression."
Oh wow the deductive nous of these geniuses!
"Why are they bringing up caste when caste is irrelevant in America?"
Yeah, sure, no caste relevance in US at all. 🙄 Then why is this needed?
"Why don't you also speak out against networking organizations dedicated solely to white protestants?" asks another WhatsApp Whataboutery Warrior.
Me: Like the KKK?
"That's a cheap shot. Making that comparison."
Me: Aing? Who initiated that comparison?
"Don't twist my words"
Is there a FIFA world cup where only self-goals win?
"You can feel a sense of belonging to the brahmin community without being casteist."
Not really. It's basically the definition of casteist. The evils and horrors follow from this very belief.
Half the ads during cricket streaming broadcasts in the US are about matrimony sites that extensively offer filtering based on caste and sub caste and sub sub caste and so on. Some show girls with black boyfriends as cautionary tale.
But sure, caste is irrelevant in the US.
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Students were fascinated to learn how ICC, then Imperial Cricket Council, was the main force in limiting growth of cricket as a global sport in 1900s by defining test cricket as only matches between Commonwealth members.
Holland, Argentina, US had good teams too. But the ICC...
But ICC, literally an Imperial body, actively chose to exclude the Dutch, Americans, & Argentinians (1910s were golden are of ARG cricket), fearful of losing control of the sport.
Cricket in those countries never really recovered from this. It stays a Commonwealth heavy game.
Even in 1900s & 1910s, cricket was popular enough in the US to fill stadiums in many cities. Level of play & interest was high.
But just as World Series started in 1903 & baseball was taking off, ICC in 1909 actively refused an opportunity to bring US into the cricket fold.
This will set many unkil hair on fire but when you read the full multi sided history of the 1962 India China war, there isn't much to blame Nehru about, except using hindsight and weirdly high standards and expectations of clairvoyance. And Cuban missile crisis is minimized. 🧵
First of all, Indian defeat in the 1962 skirmish is overblown for Nehru bashing purposes. And it really was a skirmish not a war. How many wars have zero civilian casualties?
India lost 1300 soldiers. Not great. But not exactly Vietnam War numbers. We lost half those in Kargil.
Losing territory is never great but Aksai Chin was and is mostly uninhabited territory more useful for strategic and logistical purposes than losing actual people inhabited territory.
China didn't march on and take Leh or Srinagar, did they? It was a very opportunistic skirmish.
DMs filling up with "hey can you explain this Zohran phenomenon to me" from friends & Desi columnists lol.
So this will be my NYC Mayor election mega 🧵. FAQ of sorts.
I first truly noticed Zohran in 2023 when he put out an anti Modi statement. As Ro was sucking up to Modi /1
I had known of Zohran vaguely for a couple of years before that, but it was as a huge fan of Mira Nair. I had heard her son was running for state assembly. Not exactly a glamorous & enriching career. But even then I thought, that's sweet. He's choosing public service!
The only son of Mira Nair & Zohran Mamdani, while definitely no billionaire, would still have enough social networks and financial fallbacks to try to make a career in Hollywood. Or academia. Or anything really. Even wall street banker.
The historic reasons for why England (and most of it's ex colonies) and Japan drive on the left but Europe, USA, rest of the world drive on the right are fascinating. And predate the invention of cars.
It's about chariots/wagons vs single horses as primary transportation. 🧵
In Europe, the Romans built highways 2000 years ago for military and supply chains. Lots of chariots & wagons involved.
90% people are right handed, so held the reigns in their right hand. So it made sense to sit on the left. And drive in the right. As a norm, then rule.
Britain tho, until 1800s, was a tiny island without the scale or logistical needs of Continental Europe. Transport there was primarily individual horses. 90% people are right handed there too. But right handers climb a horse from the left, using the right arm to pull them up.
Last week in Pune, I went to many cousins' & friends' new or recent homes. In and around Pashan. And I could picture exactly which areas were sure to flood. I've walked those hills for years.
Why is it called Pashan?
Some of the oldest & hardest rock on the planet!
Marathi has a word for seasonal streams. ओढा. Literally means "to pull".
Those rocky hills had centuries, millennia old odhas which took water from heavy rain all the way down to the rivers. Mudslides were unheard of, given how hard the rock was.