If you are a visitor to London and love books (I do), don’t miss @britishlibrary at Euston. More than a HUNDRED MILLION items in its collection, there’s endless joy on offer. Here is a flavour of what you can stumble upon. A snatch of a poem from the book follows next.
“The Rivulet” by William Cullen Bryant
This little rill that, from the springs
Of yonder grove, its current brings
Plays on the slope awhile, and then
Goes prattling into groves again
Oft to its warbling waters drew
My little feet, when life was new
…
May 27, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
So 56 believes he will open a door to the very voters who closed his last enclave in the region by a religious, specifically Brahminical, sideshow? Has nobody told him that one of the most important feature of post-Independence politics in South India is Anti-Brahminism?
When you are surrounded by UCs like jshanks, no-lehsun-no-pyaaz or the Iyer (or Iyengar) Administrative Service, and have zero understanding of history, outside of Sanghi mythology, what else do you expect? Will eventually add a page to 56’s “Poor Advice” scrapbook.
Jan 25, 2022 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
Tomorrow is our 73rd Republic Day. In years past, you could send a telegram to family and friends with the message, "Greetings of Republic Day. Long live the Republic". The telegram has since faded into history. Now, sadly, so has the kernel of the message.
If you look at how our two national festivals; Independence Day is the other one; are observed these days, there is little to separate them, barring the parade on one and the PM's speech from Red Fort ramparts on the other.
Dec 15, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
It was never in doubt that violence was core to the party: they demonstrate it with regularity, and impunity. Now, a friendly SIT has issued a very specific indictment. A minister's son has been accused of conspiracy to commit mass murder.
Said minister is 2IC to the caporegime, who continues to shield his deputy, obviously not without capo di tutti capi greenlight.
Jul 21, 2021 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
This administration places top priority on perception; reality be damned. To this end, it began to co-opt major news outlets, TV, print and digital, in its long run up to the 2014 election victory. Hyperbole, half-truths, even outright myths were used to polish beard's image.
Conversely, competing politicians and parties were subjected to vilification, hectoring and abuse, and ad hominem was the weapon of choice. Textbook propaganda techniques: repeat the lie until it becomes consensus, drown out or squelch other voices; began to succeed.
Dec 15, 2020 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Here's a long thread triggered by this administration's decision to cancel the scheduled Winter Session of Parliament. I decided to check what some of the other members of the G-20 had done.
The Argentinian Parliament is in session right now, and just passed a long sought law legalising abortion, in a mainly-Catholic country. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9…
Sep 25, 2019 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
In just the last 24 hours, the global RW, acting in accidentally-by-design concert, has turned all its heavy artillery on a most unlikely adversary: a 16-year old girl from Stockholm, Sweden, @GretaThunberg.
Our own ever-growing ranks of the Devout have joined the feeding frenzy with the kind of gusto reserved hitherto only for domestic dissenters and malcontents. Of course, they have an unsettled score, her Feb 19 message .
