• Year-end mini-vacation to Chennai – Part 1

    After a memorable trip to Chennai the previous month, it was time for yet another such trip in the final month of the year. I was to take 11027 Mumbai Chennai Mail (yet again! 😀 ) on Saturday 23rd night. I had booked an AC 2 Tier ticket, which was originally RAC3 and then became…

  • Liberals and the complicity in casteism – Part 2

    This is a continuation of my rant about the casual casteism of liberals from Part 1 https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2017/12/12/liberals-and-the-complicity-in-casteism-part-1/ . I am sorry for the long gap in between, but well; I was busy with work – to compensate for the end-of-the-year vacation that I am gonna take. Like I mentioned earlier, I am an ex-liberal. Like most…

  • Liberals and the complicity in casteism – Part 1

    I am from a conservative Tamil Brahmin family, which has always leaned to the right (supporting BJP, RSS etc.). I  am privileged in four ways – gender (male), religion (Hindu), caste (Brahmin) and class (upper middle – class). I have been blind to most of these privileges. Because of the patriarchal structure of my family…

  • A Return Journey To Remember – Part 2

    This is Part 2 of my account of my train journey by 11042 Chennai Mumbai express on Nov 25 – sorry to keep you waiting; was busy with work over the last few days! Here is Part 1 if you haven’t read it yet! https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2017/12/03/a-return-journey-to-remember-part-1/  As always, please refer to the legend right at the bottom…

  • A Return Journey To Remember – Part 1

    After a rather enjoyable trip of Chennai of a week, during which I met my maternal grandparents, relatives and friends; it was time for me to return to Mumbai – again by train! Oh, and for my account of my train journey from Mumbai; please refer https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2017/11/22/a-two-night-sojourn-to-chennai-part-1/ and https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2017/11/23/a-two-night-sojourn-to-chennai-part-2/ . This time, I took 11042 MAS CSMT…

  • A Two Night Sojourn to Chennai – Part 2

    Like my journey by 11027 Mumbai Chennai ‘supercrawler’ Mail, my blogs also tend to be long; thus necessitating a split into two or more parts. Sorry to keep you waiting so long for Part 2! Here is Part 1 if you have not read it yet! https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2017/11/22/a-two-night-sojourn-to-chennai-part-1/  Again, for technical terms and station codes; please refer…

  • A Two Night Sojourn to Chennai – Part 1

    I was hugely lucky to benefit from the 15-day leave policy of my company; which I made full use of – to plan a week-long trip to Chennai in order to meet my maternal grandparents, relatives and friends. As the title suggests, I took the legendary 09 Down Mail (now 11027 Mumbai Chennai Mail); a…

  • Anatomy of a chat: What is wrong with Indian men? – Part 2

    Here I am, to continue my rant about the bewildering attitude of the savarna liberal elite; especially men – continuing from where I left out – the response to Bollywood actress Vidya Balan speaking about sexual harassment, involving an Army Jawan staring at her breasts https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2017/11/12/anatomy-of-a-chat-what-is-wrong-with-indian-men-part-1/ . Asit Misra, the OP who brazenly admitted to staring…

  • Anatomy of a chat: What is wrong with Indian men? – Part 1

    Many of you may not be knowing that popular Bollywood actress Vidya Balan recently spoke on the viral #MeToo campaign, regarding her experience of being stared at by a soldier during her college days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mglQoWeKlc . When asked about sexual harassment under the #MeToo Campaign, she said that sexual abuse has always been happening. Vidya said, referring to…

  • Sexism and the difficult task of convincing men – 2

    This is part 2 of my blog post on sexism in India, and the difficulty in convincing other men on our sexist culture and the need for change in attitude towards women; continued from https://ashwinkumar1989.online/2017/10/27/sexism-and-the-difficult-task-of-convincing-men-part-1/ . This mainly concerns the conversations between me and my right-wing and anti-feminist friend mentioned in Part 1, whose attitude proves…