ACJ Reunion Tomorrow

 I went through photos from my time in journalism school yesterday ahead of the big reunion tomorrow. As I said, I have drifted apart from the people I hung out with the most and who also figure the most prominently in the photos. I reached out to the one person whom I am on the best terms with and asked if he was coming to the reunion, and he replied that he didn't even know there was one. ACJ was one of the best years of my life, the first time I found people I could relate to at a personal, intellectual and political level. I also felt smart for the first time in ages, after many years of feeling like a dullard in engineering college. One month of we graduated and dispersed to different corners of South Asia, I wrote this blog post, which is soaked in sappiness, and not much else. I cringe when I read it, but the blog was portentous. I had a strong sense that the previous year had been an somewhat exceptional period in my life. And, sure enough, I would have to wait another six years for another period in my life which was as magical. I might not be good at many things but I am good at maintaining friendships, and I remained in touch with many people from ACJ for years after we graduated. That changed only after I moved to Holland for my master's (another magical year) and most people drifted away, except for a core of heart friends. I will be meeting several people that I had lost touch with tomorrow, and some from the core as well. I am a sucker for nostalgia, so I am sure I will have a great time.

Airport Blog June 2024

I should be grateful to be sitting here, waiting for my flight. I took a gamble booking my ticket before getting my passport back from the US embassy. In retrospect, my chain of reasoning before I booked the ticket sounds absurd. Suffice to say, it had something to do with the cost of booking a flight late vs the cost of changing a flight. I immediately regretted it after booking the flight. It might have been the wise decision monetarily, but it was not worth the stress of wondering whether my passport would arrive in time. The main purpose of money is to reduce the stress in one's life. My passport arrived at 1:22 pm and I left for the coach station at 2:45 pm, and even managed to squeeze in a trip to the library and the shops. This is the second rash decision I have made in the past week, and its something I am going to mull over. Anyway, all is well that ends well. I think this is the most at ease I have been before an India trip despite the events of the past eight months. Previous trips were clouded by the pandemic, an unfinished PhD and the stress of a job hunt. On this trip, I have loads to look forward. My parents' and grandmothers' reaction when I land up at home unannounced tomorrow. Journo school was one of the best years of my life, and this weekend I will be travelling to Chennai for a reunion. I have drifted apart from the three people I hung out the most with, but other close friends whom I have kept in touch with are attending. And, its always good to visit home and touch base with friends and family before a major move, which I am slowly getting more excited about despite the events in Gaza. 

Crap Week

 This has been a week of no major calamity, but a lot of small mishaps. I've been a target of three rental scams this week, one partially successful. Two days ago, I had to cancel my London trip to a conference I was looking forward to because I had left too little time to reach the train station in the morning. I would still have made it if an Uber driver hadn't cancelled on me. The same day I got into a verbal altercation with a car driver who turned across my lance without signaling, He was so incensed that he turned his car around and followed me. He overtook me, and I thought he wanted me to stop to confront me. Luckily I was approaching the bike path turn-off, so I gave him the middle finger and disappeared on to the bike path. And, today, a lad on an e-scooter came hurtling towards me on the wrong side of the bike path. When I yelled "Watch out!", he swerved abruptly, skidded, and went tumbling down. I managed to stay on my bike, and stopped to make sure he was okay. A passing jogger saw what happened and stopped as well. It was clearly the lad's fault as he was looking at his phone while riding on the wrong side. He glowered at me, but there were no angry words exchanged. And, of course, my US visa didn't arrive, which means I won't be able to fly to India to surprise my parents on Monday. The longer it takes to arrive the longer I have to wait to visit India, and I might end up missing my journalism school reunion next weekend. The longer the wait, the more I will worry more that the visa has been rejected. A US visa rejection will not be the unmitigated disaster it would have been in normal times, though. The situation in Palestine has changed everything. 

Scammers Vs Weirdos

 The most annoying people on property groups/websites are not the scammers, they are the weirdos. Scammers act rationally--they try to reel you in, and if they fail, they move on to the next target. Weirdos don't leave you alone. I had the weirdest interaction with a man on an FB group. So many red flags went up that I thought, "Surely, this cannot be a scammer, he must just be weird. Let me give him the benefit of the doubt." I am not going to bore you with the details of our interaction. I can't explain why I agreed to pay him $75 as an application fee. Let's just say people can wear you down with their persistence. And, my thinking was that surely no one is going to expend so much energy to scam me off $75. I half expected him to disappear as soon as he got the money, and now I wish I had. Instead, he started badgering me to pay a security deposit before even viewing the place (a friend would have viewed it on my behalf). Naturally, I refused. Our past 20 exchanges have been me asking for my $75 back, and him telling me to trust him and send him $200. I know the $75 is a write-off and its a lesson to not just beware of scammers but also to beware of the weirdos. Scammers act rationally, weirdos don't. I thought about either guilt-tripping him or threatening him with exposure, but I don't think its a good idea. $75 is not a life-changing amount. Weird people can be irrationally stubborn and react in crazy ways to provocation. 

Property Scam

 If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is not. For a few hours today, I thought the stars were aligning for me. Someone responded to my ad looking for an apartment on Fb, and put me in touch with their former landlord. The landlord claimed he was a trucker and away a lot. The rent was very reasonable (in hindsight, too reasonable) and the pictures of the apartment were amazing. However, everything went south when I asked if I could put him in touch with a friend who lives in the same town, who would view the place on my behalf. He said that was not possible as he was away a lot. The friend could drive by and look at the place from the outside. He was willing to do a viewing but only after I had paid a a security deposit. HE sought to reassure me that his lawyer would be involved in drawing up the lease, so there was nothing to worry. Red flags went up immediately in my head and I forwarded our email exchange to two friends, who agreed that it seemed very fishy. I googled the address to see if I could find any property records, although this person on the other side of the emails could be impersonating the owner even if there was a property recorded in the name he gave me. I became convinced it was a scam when I did a google search on the images, and it threw up a listing for a different house in Northampton.  The four pictures he had sent me were an exact match, down to the smallest detail. So, there. The stars are not lining up, or at least not yet. But, I realise I am very lucky that I have people on the ground willing to scope out properties for me. What do most people moving to a new place where they don't know anyone do? Get scammed or go through expensive realtors, I guess. 

Zionists

 What a day! It started with the coach that was supposed to take us to the Palestine march in London failing to arrive. Most of the group dispersed, but a few of us decided to drive down to London. The trip down was as uneventful as driving in central London can be. But, as we were reaching our destination, we got the news that the US and Israel had rescued four hostages by smuggling in special forces disguised as a humanitarian convey. To create a diversion for the rescue, they had bombed a nearby refugee camp, killing more than 200 Palestinians. Our hearts curdled in anticipation of how Israel would paint this as a justification for genocide and the breathless media  celebrating the rescue while ignoring the deaths of Palestinians. At least, we felt better about our decision to make it to London today. As were putting up the Bristol banner, a Zionist plucked a flag from an angels-wings prop that one of our group was wearing on her back, and started to walk away. Her response was fiery and she ran after him, trying to snatch it back. Although I hadn't seen what had happened, I ran and joined her when I saw the confrontation. I guess the combination of her passion and my size put him off a confrontation, and he tossed the flag down and walked off. Although I initially felt that my response could have been more aggressive, I am glad the situation didn't escalate because a) I could have gotten hurt b) or arrested. The Zionists and Islamophobes are angry. In almost all the recent actions I have been on, there have been confrontations with Zionists. I don't know if they are trying to instigate violence to discredit the marches, or whether their denialism is taking a violent form. In the face of overwhelming evidence of Israel's atrocities, any doubts that might creep up have to be drowned out with anger and aggression. Like an angry ferret stuck in a hole which will bite the hand that tries to rescue it. I have more respect for these people compared to the armchair Zionists because at least they are putting themselves in harm's way. And, I feel an ever deeper sense of antipathy towards silent Zionists and de facto Zionists--people who don't have Zionist beliefs, but propagate Zionism by their steadfast dedication to their won careers and the status quo that that depends on. 

India Election Results 2024

This is the happiest I have felt in months. I was girding myself for bad news coming out of India on election results day because I can't remember the last time good news came out of India. This election would decide whether India would continue to remain a secular republic or turn into a Hindu nationalist autocracy. And, despite stacking the odds heavily in his favour, Modi failed to win a majority. In a speech I gave at a Palestine rally today. I mentioned the result, adding that fascism is great at projecting power, but when the cracks begin to appear, it crumbles fast. I don't think anyone on the left is under nay illusions that Modi and his brand of fascism will go easily, but his aura is broken forever. Imagining Modi in a coalition government, where he wouldn't have absolute control and will be subject to the pushes and pulls of alliance partners is as difficult as imagining Hitler in a coalition government. As someone on twitter said, hope is more powerful than victory. This is the most hopeful I have felt about the future of India since the farmers' protest of 2020-21.