Posts

Why People Join Sex Spaces and Then Shame Sex:The Global Theatre of Respectability Politics

There’s a special kind of clownery that deserves its own Netflix documentary: people who voluntarily enter sex-positive spaces — orgy groups, hookup chats, kink communities, sex parties — and then start moral-policing everyone inside them. Not accidentally. Not ironically. Deliberately. It’s the same genre of human who walks into a bar and complains about alcohol. Or joins a rave and asks people to lower the music. Or downloads Grindr and posts: “ Not here for hookups. Real connections only.” No, Karen. You’re here for chaos. And validation. This phenomenon isn’t cultural. It isn’t Indian. It isn’t Western. It’s global respectability politics wearing a rainbow filter . Across cultures, queer people grow up absorbing one core message: sex = shame, desire = danger, pleasure = something you should feel guilty about. So even when they consciously want sex, they unconsciously hate the part of themselves that wants it. What does unresolved sexual repression look like? It loo...

Hookup Culture Promised Freedom, Delivered Burnout

I couldn’t help but wonder — when did freedom start feeling like another thing we had to manage? In urban India, hookup culture arrived wearing the language of progress. It sounded modern. Liberating. Finally, a way to want without answering to parents, society, marriage timelines, or that ever-present question: “Where is this going?” For a generation raised between conservative households and liberal Instagram feeds, it felt like a loophole. Sex without commitment. Desire without declarations. Intimacy without consequences — or so we thought. At first, it felt intoxicating. Dating apps gave us access we’d never had before. Cities offered anonymity. Weekends became possibilities instead of obligations. You could meet someone on Friday night and be a completely different person by Sunday morning — untouched, unaccountable, free. Freedom tasted especially sweet in a culture where everything else came with conditions. No shaadi pressure. No family involvement. No “log kya kahenge”. Just c...

Situationships: Because Commitment Doesn’t Trend Well

Why ambiguity feels safer than honesty — and hotter than clarity ! ! Nobody in urban India sets out saying, “I’d like a confusing emotional arrangement with unclear boundaries and an expiry date I’ll pretend not to notice.” It just happens. Somewhere between late-night cab rides, half-shared cigarettes, and conversations that get deep only after the third drink. You meet someone. Maybe through an app, maybe through mutuals, maybe at a house party where everyone pretends they’re not judging each other’s politics and dating history. The chemistry is real. The attraction undeniable. The vibe? Effortlessly modern. So modern, in fact, that nobody wants to name what’s happening — because naming things feels… old-school. Almost regressive. Instead, we let it breathe. We let it exist. We text daily, but not predictably. Predictability implies intention. We meet often, but not ritually. Rituals imply priority. We share playlists, trauma anecdotes, and beds — but asking “where is this going?” fe...

When Film Critics Stop Reviewing Films and Start Issuing Press Notes

There was a time—long, long ago—when film criticism was about cinema. About narrative arcs, performances, screenplay, editing, music, coherence, craft. Critics disagreed, audiences debated, and everyone went home reasonably sane. Then Dhurandhar released. And suddenly, we weren’t watching a movie anymore—we were watching a meltdown . The Movie That Broke the Critics Dhurandhar did something unforgivable in today’s cinematic ecosystem: It didn’t ask permission. It didn’t perform ideological loyalty checks. It didn’t signal its virtue loudly enough. And worst of all—it resonated with audiences without being certified “safe” by the usual liberal gatekeepers . The result? A collective nervous breakdown masquerading as film criticism. Within hours of release, certain critics—who usually write like detached aesthetes—began sounding like opinion columnists with hurt feelings. Reviews were less about what worked or didn’t and more about what the film dared to imply . The discomfort...

Prashant Kishor’s Bihar Faceplant: The Political Strategist Who Couldn’t Strategise His Own Win

Prashant Kishor entered Bihar with the swagger of a man who had helped script the biggest victories of the decade — Modi’s 2014 wave, Nitish’s 2015 comeback, Mamata’s Bengal surge. But the moment he stopped whispering in the ears of powerful leaders and stepped onto the stage himself, the myth evaporated. Because Prashant Kishor the strategist and Prashant Kishor the politician are two entirely different realities — and Bihar exposed that difference with surgical brutality. 1. Great Strategist, Non-existent Politician As a consultant, PK is brilliant: he manipulates data, messaging, booth management, optics, media narrative — all from behind the curtain. But politics does not reward invisibility. It rewards charisma, emotional resonance, and ground loyalty — things he simply doesn’t have. You can design the circus tent. But stepping into the ring with the lions is a different game. 2. Strategy ≠ Mass Appeal Helping someone else win and convincing people to vote for you are unrelated sk...

The Return of the Shoe: India’s Most Democratic Weapon of Dissent

In a courtroom wrapped in colonial decorum, where dissent is sterilized and truth must wear a necktie, a single shoe dared to interrupt order. A 71-year-old lawyer hurled his sneaker toward Chief Justice Gavai — and in that moment, democracy found its most honest footwear again. The incident was dismissed as contempt. But perhaps it was content. --- When the Sole Speaks Long before hashtags, the shoe spoke for the silenced. From Minto Park to Baghdad, from Chandni Chowk to Capitol Hill, the shoe has always been the subaltern’s microphone. In 1908, a revolutionary flung a sandal at a British officer. In 2008, an Iraqi journalist threw one at George W. Bush. In 2025, a lawyer at the Supreme Court simply joined a global legacy of soleful resistance. But here’s the irony — when the privileged throw books, it’s called debate. When the unprivileged throw shoes, it’s called disorder. --- The Colonized Courtroom The Supreme Court is less a temple of justice, and more a museum of obedience. Its...

🌚 The Rise of Situationship Spirituality

I couldn’t help but wonder — when did our love lives start sounding like a mix of a tarot reading and a therapy meme page? Somewhere between “he’s just not ready” and “the universe is testing our connection”, we stopped dating and started decoding our trauma through moon phases and badly lit Instagram reels. --- In 2025, no one breaks up anymore. They just “surrender to divine timing.” Translation: He’s ghosting you, but politely — with incense burning. She’s not ignoring you; she’s “in her hermit phase.” He’s not cheating; he’s “navigating his twin flame confusion.” And that emotionally unavailable Delhi boy? He’s not toxic — he’s a Scorpio sun, babe. What did you expect, emotional regulation? --- We’re all out here acting like our dating life is a Netflix crossover between Euphoria and Indian Matchmaking  One minute we’re talking about “vibrations and energy exchange,” next minute we’re crying over a text that says “seen 2:07 AM.” It’s not a relationship, it’s a spiritual syllabu...