May 2026
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India-Pakistan pop culture and future trends
The author argues that discussions of India-Pakistan pop culture miss the rise of Indian streaming platforms, whose shorter, less censored and more experimental shows now supply more memes than films…
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Open Thread: Pakistan’s Demons are The Daughters of God
Open thread opening on Pakistan’s diplomatic gains after Sindoor, including its role in a US-Iran memo, and on whether its real problem lies in its television dramas. It quotes commenter…
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Biggest takeaway of Assembly elections
Citing pollster Pradeep Gupta, the author says the biggest takeaway of the 2026 state elections is that pre-poll cash transfers to women did not save most incumbents, and adds Shekhar…
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The Hindification of East India
Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and now Bengal: the old Bengal Presidency votes as a single saffron block. A century after the bhadralok forced Curzon to reunite Bengal, their grandchildren have completed…
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the Shah and the Saint
Moderation notice: after a commenter’s jocular threat against another, the authors say the next sanction for BB, under any handle, is a 40-comment fine and a week without authorial and…
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The “Prakrisation” of Hindi
Reposting a commenter’s theory unedited, the authors present FlyeDie’s argument that Hindi is the Prakrit of the modern age, caught between English and the regional vernaculars, and may be displaced…
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You cannot be a leftist if you support fundamentally illiberal positions
The author argues that one cannot be a leftist while supporting dictatorships or unequal citizenship rights, naming military rule in Myanmar and Pakistan, Iran’s clerical state, and restrictions on women…
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The god of small comments
A reader’s reply on the assembly elections thread, reposted in full, explains how Kerala’s Christians divided into sectarian groups from the pre-colonial period, including the Knanaya and older communities, and…
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The Shijrah and the Y-Chromosome
A sequel arguing that BB and Qureshi reach the same wrong conclusion on Sayyid ancestry by different routes. The post contends that Y-chromosome evidence retains paternal descent that autosomal arithmetic…
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Open Thread – Assembly Elections 2026
Open thread for the 2026 assembly election results, expecting Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam to be near-certain and treating West Bengal as the key contest.
