Today I Learnt 13

India’s Covid-19 Emergency

• The situation is scary. Very scary.
• It has spread to the rural areas. There is severe lack of information and resources. There are a lot of quacks who can wreak havoc in the current climate of misinformation.
• The biggest fake Guru Ramdev has shown his true colors by blaming the victims of Covid-19 for all their breathing issues.
• We have RSS workers followed by our honorable PM dying without treatment.
• It isn’t just pathetic planning, it is veering towards negligent homicide.

Arsenal vs Chelsea

• Arsenal eked out a lucky victory against Chelsea.
• They were utterly boring, but defended resolutely.
• Weird formation; three man back line; Saka and Tierney as wingbacks; defensive midfield of Partey and Elneny.
• Got a very lucky goal.
• Chelsea have been on an amazing run lately.

Lolita

• Reading the book, I am utterly horrified most of the time.
• I don’t understand how people see beauty in it.
• Lolita seems like she is utterly depressed.
• There is a conflation of possession and love here. This is something I have been thinking about for a long time, but this recent article from Annie Zaidi has brought it to the fore.
• Let me now talk about the only love I know about, which is familial love.
  • The way I would think about my relationship with my parents is the sense of mutual responsibility.
  • There is barely any honest communication. I wouldn’t tell them if something good or bad happens to me. And I am sure they wouldn’t either to save me from extreme emotions.
  • I am coddled to the point where I don’t feel like I belong in the home grew up in.
  • My aim growing up had a lot to do with autonomy, I just wanted to feel more like me. As things have gone so far, I am further away from it then where I started from.
• And what about the traditional Indian¹ Guru-shishya, teacher-student, relationship. The shishya is expected to give up complete control to their loving Guru. The Guru can beat them, make the shishya do their chores, ask for ridiculous things² as gifts, and even fu_king rape them³. It’s all ok. It’s all out of love for their students.
• Another manifestation of this conflation of control and love can be seen with the relationship that a lot of Indians have with their dogs. When I walked around in the evening/morning I would encounter a lot of people walking their dogs🐕. That’s fairly normal. What’s weird is that they often carry sticks (made of heavy wood or metal). I have always wondered what kind of a relationship these people have with their pets! I am sure if I ask them about it they will say that they like their dogs, maybe even love them. Who knows 😕. But does their dog love them. It is dependent on them. It is afraid of them. Maybe he won’t run even if they let it off the leash. But does their dog love them or is it just really afraid of them that it would do anything to make it seem like it loves them.
• What I am trying to get at is that love is only truly perceptible when there is a fundamental equality between individuals. When everyone is genuinely allowed to be themselves. They are allowed to be honest.
• Don’t get me wrong this equality is impossible to judge from the outside. I am definitely not promoting the idea of love only possible between people in the same economic class. Economic status is just one part of the equation. Not the whole.
• This idea of equality is difficult to grapple with. There is no uniform formula applicable to everyone. Let’s take the case of a housewife for example. In some cases, this economic power imbalance might prevent a wife from getting out of an abusive relationship. At time another person might have this exact expectation out of their relationship and enjoy the housework. They might still feel a sense of equality in the relationship. It is for the individual to figure out among themselves. It’s a feeling, not a fact or figure.