Discarded

Mateusz D/Unsplash

Every new social platform that becomes the talk of town automatically sparks a curiosity in me. I do give it a whirl only to find out that it was not my type in the first place. But that does not stop me for trying the next talked about thing. It was on a wave of such hype, that Discord first came to me and so I ventured forth. The dark UI overlaid with friendly looking characters seemed like a fun place but only for people who knew where to go adding to its charm and living up to its name as some sort of underground gathering. Unfortunately for me, I was then and continue to be overwhelmed by the infinite number of side-tabs, competing conversations and a fountain of activities that I find myself incompetent to handle. Usually I am able to invoke the 'sour grapes' mentality and let inaccessible things be but in this one instance, I keep hoping against hope that I'll figure out a hack to experience the place as committed Discord-ers do. Unlike all of the others which I had so far discarded, here was a platform that discarded me. Have been unable to make any gains in this regard for quite some time now but hey, 2026 is a new horizon.

The End

Lance Grandahl/Unsplash

Newspapers around the globe readily proclaim it and editorial pages further the argument. The claim is that because of XYZ leader of ABC country, international multilateralism is NOW dead. Henceforth, it will be individual countries cutting personal deals with each other. The end of the global world order is lamented as if it was something set in stone and rigorously followed. Truth is that alliances between nations and groups of nations have always been of convenience, overlooking D to achieve co-operation in E. International censure, which only meant a tap on the hand for reprimandable behaviour, was invoked selectively and sporadically by the powers that be. As is the course of history, the names of the powers may have changed but their shenanigans remain the same. Internationalism can never really be dead when it wasn't the default in the first place. It has certainly helped in many situations as much as it has stood muted to atrocities in others. There will be times when larger global agreement is sought and can be fulfilled only by multilateralism. Likewise, there will be occasions for pally nations to team up person to person because that is what the situation requires. In an overconnected world, there really cannot be a one size fits all strategy and defusing tools used will be changed around as crisises evolve. Apart from keeping newspaper opinion columns filled, reports of any kind of diplomacy's demise will inevitably be premature.

Deja-Dhurr

"Dhurr" is a very Bengali sound for exasperation. Not quite a word but packed with all the functions of one. I keep it polished and ready because it is that time of the year again. Another year, another clutch game which will determine if Arsenal are able to maintain their tenuous lead at the top of the table at year-end. Having been exactly here so many times in the past two decades, the worst outcome has been played out so frequently that it has ceased to surprise. Nonetheless, the Arsenal faithful including yours truly will watch with bated breath at 01:45 AM India time as their team, predictably plateauing, take on a surging Aston Villa with a grudge bearing former coach at the helm. As a true Gunner, I will watch with hope well aware that past history must be crushing down on the players much more than us spectators. But for their sake (Saka?) and ours, hoping for a plot twist towards the positive.

Free

13th March 2008, Kolkata

The effort was to make a centrally airconditioned space seem more natural. The tragedy was that they chose to decorate a space that tends to be drearier than even the average office cubicle. The net result was that in the course of a meeting, all you could think was to run, run, run, run to where the deer run free.

Morning Meditations

IMG: Dall-E 3

A sequence of tough days at work led to the eventual sleep-in. My daily almost dawn walk with the dogs was pushed down the sundial to more of a morning walk timeslot to allow me to dwell for a little bit more on the comfort of refusing to start a new day. The electronic drug-dealer in my palm served up UEFA Champions League highlights from last night. I partook of Bayern Munich steamrolling Dinamo Zagreb and Manchester City stuttering against Inter Milan mainly because swiping on to the next video felt like too much effort. The irony inherent in cheering for pinnacles of fitness and energy while representing the opposite end of the spectrum was not lost on me. It was still well within the definition of an everyman's early morning when the dogs' earnest confusion finally guilted me into abandoning my contract with sloth. The route was regular, the sniffs and woofs along the way routine but the advantage to a time-table, however externally enforced, is that it ensures that even the most shapeless of mornings eventually meanders towards a generally right direction.

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/09/morning-meditations.html]