Brown PunditsA Deccani miniature of a dancing girl tying her hair, Golconda, about 1700

The Indian Subcontinent Argues with Itself

Saturday, 17 October 2026Since December 2010 · 4,161 posts · 93,552 comments
Open Thread Navarātri and Durgā Pūjā · 82 comments · last comment ago Add your thoughts →

January 2018

  • Oh to be a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin

    A Konkani Gaud Saraswat Brahmin writer notes, via Ajit Pai, what he sees as a compulsive urge among Indians to name-drop a high caste, and recalls the origin legends of…

    BP Admin Team · opened by X.T.M22 January 201821 comments

  • Aziz Ansari

    Asks for thoughts on the Aziz Ansari controversy, and whether it has reinforced stereotypes of Brown and perhaps Muslim men in the dating market.

    X.T.M19 January 201819 comments

  • Why do nonmulims mistreat muslims so much?

    Suggests non-Muslims mistreat Muslims largely because they do not understand Islam or Muslims, and proposes that everyone watch a Tarek Fatah video closely, praising its humour.

    AnAn17 January 201819 comments

  • Shithole countries

    Asks how wrong Trump was to call some countries ‘shitholes’, conceding as a half-Pakistani, half-Iranian writer that a large diaspora usually signals something wrong at home, though the remark is…

    X.T.M13 January 201814 comments

  • Book Review: The RigVeda

    Reviews Ralph Griffith’s translation of the Rig Veda, read through selected hymns from all ten books as a window onto the Indo-European ‘heroic age’ rather than as scripture, noting the…

    Omar Ali11 January 201831 comments

  • Juice: A Short Film about Patriarchy

    Recommends the 15-minute short film Juice, about patriarchy, saying it shows India’s emotional and social maturity well ahead of its Muslim neighbours, and adds a Turkish clip.

    X.T.M10 January 20182 comments

  • Jewel in the Lotus

    Shares lines from Tennyson’s ‘Akbar’s Dream’, found while reading about the Lotus Temple’s opening, while objecting to its ‘alien race from the sunset’ rebuilding the lost stones.

    X.T.M8 January 20180 comments

  • Elitist Shi’ites

    Responding to Razib Khan on the global elite, the author reflects on the Anglospheric elite, likens visits to Iran to China (‘capitalism with Shi’ite characteristics’), floats a British-style model and…

    X.T.M7 January 20180 comments

  • Why Colonialism is always wrong..

    Arguing colonialism is always wrong, the author lists drawbacks of British rule in South Asia, including English displacing a native literary lingua franca as the high culture and the long…

    X.T.M6 January 201830 comments

  • The Merchants of Rawalpindi

    Reposts a Times of India column by Sunil Sharan asking why Trump is angry with Pakistan, which it argues will not help him exit Afghanistan, with only a one-line comment…

    X.T.M6 January 20180 comments
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