Those who missed reading my plus and minus summary of the Sep 2020 agri “reforms” earlier, should definitely read it now (had shared the article-link in a previous issue of this newsletter). It will help you consume all the news and memes and cartoons and Instagram slides on the ongoing protests in the right context.

The one line summary of what is keeping the agitation alive is that while the downside of the new agri-laws is clear, the upside is uncertain.

As per these “reforms”, the possibility of farmers making more money ultimately rests on private players being nice and playing fair. Would that happen? You tell me. Once upon a time we just had a private airline in India (run by Tata) that was then taken over by government and then later more private players were allowed to compete. If you have ever flown, who do you think are nicer, better and easier to deal with?

Of course an average farmer is much more vulnerable (can’t really be compared with people who fly) and so is more likely to get exploited. Unfortunately, the Modi government has not put in place enough measures to ensure that doesn’t happen - and that pretty much is the problem. A half-baked “reform” is likely to cause more damage than benefit.

Talking about Modiji, inspired by his motivational talk delivered online to college students in Lucknow this week, I edited a 1 minuter funny clip.

I apologize for the poor audio quality in the segment where the music begins; was playing around with pitch-shifter (in logic pro) and something got screwed up! Will do better next time.

I came across a term called Brandolini’s principle while reading a book - Calling Bullshit. It states that ‘the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than [that needed] to produce it’.

In the book, the authors give a fascinating illustration of Brandolini’s principle by sharing a story around vaccines. Read it in my new blog. Talking about vaccines, Modiji kept himself busy this week checking out the facilities of Indian manufacturers. Either there is no way you can do this over video or because it leads to good PR? What do you think?

Why? Just check out the blog na?

In the Bhimbetka blog linked above, you will see a photo-illustration. I have been creating them for my wife’s clothing brand threada.in. Talking about her, our marriage turns 8 today (yes it’s our anniversary).

Our plan for the day is to go to a resortish kind of place (not far from home) with our pups and do a one day check-in kind of thing. Talking about pups, how badass is the person in the below video who saves a pup’s life! See for yourself!

Now that we are on to Twitter videos, let me add two more - both show how folks with disabilities don’t let it come in the way of what they want to do - be it playing snooker or running.

That’s all that I got for you today. Have a great day and a great week and I will see you next Sunday. Take care and stay safe.