We need to have a honest discussion about censorship on BP. We have a contributing author who demands and exercises the right to “ban” other contributing authors from commenting on ‘his’ threads. This, while continuing to spout distinctly one-eyed perspectives and cherry-picked regurgitated content.
Do we want BP to be a space with ‘dueling’ threads, or actual discourse? If Indians and Pakistanis can’t even manage a written conversation on a blog post via comments, without arbitrary petty ‘bans’ justified in the name of “I simply don’t like you” – this is the sort of thing that ends up having a disproportionate impact on the nature of what this space is.
Tag: Identity and culture
Fuel in Bangkok?
My friend’s friend (a Western expat who I’ve met before a few times) couldn’t fill up his vehicle today at the local gas station.
We’ve obviously been hearing about scarcity in fuel but this is the first time; it’s been a personal connection.
The Construction of Femininity in Indian Vocal Music
Since we have been discussing Asha Bhosle, I am sharing this essay which I had written on the construction of femininity in Indian vocal music. This piece was originally written as part of the coursework for my M.Mus in Ethnomusicology from SOAS, University of London.
Musical genres and styles are often linked to gender roles. Different vocal qualities are associated with societal ideas about appropriate masculinity and femininity and then reflected in music. In recent decades, much ethnomusicological scholarship has focused on the gendered and constructed nature of the human voice.
In this essay, I will discuss the construction of femininity in Indian vocal music, both classical and popular. I will particularly focus on Lata Mangeshkar (1929-2022), one of India’s most popular playback singers who for decades held a virtual monopoly as the voice of the film heroine. Mangeshkar’s voice was associated with qualities such as innocence, purity and self-sacrifice, seen as those of the ideal Indian woman. Continue reading The Construction of Femininity in Indian Vocal Music
A note of protest
Note: As usual BB and RNJ are banned from all my threads. Any comments from either will be summarily deleted.
I am extremely offended by XTM’s post The Game We Can Smell and must register my protest.
I have deleted the post on “Why Indians have stopped reading” since it was being misunderstood and not being taken in the spirit in which it was meant.
I repeatedly clarified that the title was not mine but was chosen by Scroll. Scroll is an Indian publication and both the discussants are Indian. Even some of the Indian commenters agreed that XTM was being hyper-sensitive.
XTM’s post in response is full of some rather unfounded accusations which I take offense to. I do not “hate” India or Hindus. I am against Hindutva, which is a political movement. Many Indians are against “Islamism” (however one defines that term). I would not say that that means they “hate” Muslims.
I have been accused of not showing adequate respect to Asha Bhosle, an accusation which–to be frank– borders on the ridiculous.
As El Khawaja noted in a comment anyone reading my essays would come away with the impression that I am “pro-India”. I’m certainly more “pro-India” than many other Pakistanis.
XTM’s post brought out the usual anti-Pakistan trolls who have–as usual– cast aspersions on my center-left credentials and called me an “Islamist”. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior. If one is going to respect the sensitivities of Indian commenters, one must respect the sensitivities of Pakistanis. I will under no circumstances tolerate passive aggression or personal attacks. I will not tolerate nastiness about Pak Fauj. Quips like “Failed Marshal” are unacceptable.
On the word “Islamist” specifically: an “Islamist” is someone who advocates for a state run on Shariah. I have made over 6000 comments on this forum over the years. I challenge anyone to find even one comment where I’ve called for Shariah. If they cannot find such a comment, than this word is libel.
BB made a threat of violence against me. Threatening to hold a gun to someone’s head is a very serious breach of conduct. That breach of conduct deserved a permanent ban from the forum not a suspension of one week.
BB has not learned anything from his suspension and is back to posting “low signal” pictures from “Dhurandhar”. He knows that Pakistanis find that movie triggering and this is precisely why he posts these memes.
BP is in danger of becoming a hostile space for Pakistanis. There needs to be serious introspection about why this is so.
Obviously for many Indians, being anti-Pakistan serves some psychic need. But for a forum which prides itself on its intellectual caliber to enable such behavior is unacceptable.
Postscript: Anyone who is genuinely interested in my views can read my essay entitled “What Being a ‘Centre-Left’ Pakistani Means to Me”.
A Minute of Silence for the Schoolgirls of Minab | Chehelom, 9 April 2026
If you would like to receive an invite to the Minab Zoom Memorial; please email the Brown Pundits email address on the left. Thank you.
The Chehelom, چهلم, is the Persian tradition of gathering on the fortieth day after a death to pray, remember, and bear witness. It predates Islam and runs through every strand of Iranian culture. We mark it here not as a political act but as a human one. Set your alarm. One minute. That is all we ask. XTM
At 10:45am on 28 February 2026, 165 human beings, most of them schoolgirls aged 7–12 from the Bandari and Afro-Iranian communities of southern Iran, were killed in the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab.
9 April is their Chehelom; the Persian fortieth-day memorial.
Wherever you are in the world, please set an alarm for 10:45am Tehran time on Thursday 9 April and take one minute of silence.
For the girls of Minab. For every innocent life lost in this war. No hierarchy of grief; Jewish or Arab, Muslim or Persian, American or migrant.
We are all One.
🕰 Tehran 10:45 · London 08:15 · New York 03:15 · LA 00:15 · Sydney 17:15
Share as far as you can. 🕊 Continue reading A Minute of Silence for the Schoolgirls of Minab | Chehelom, 9 April 2026
Open Thread + A Note on Standards
Brown Pundits has always been a forum for the kind of thinking that most outlets are too timid or too tribal to publish. We intend to keep it that way. But that standard cuts both ways, and we are raising it.
Effective immediately, the moderation policy is zero tolerance.
This is not a crackdown on opinion. We welcome disagreement; sharp, even uncomfortable disagreement. What we will no longer tolerate is noise dressed up as insight.
What does noise look like? You know it when you read it. It is the rattling of nuclear talking points that have not been updated since 1998. It is the reduction of a civilisation of 220 million people, or of a billion-and-a-half, to a single variable: the Crescent, or the Saffron. It is venom without weight, and venting without argument.
Pakistan is complex. India is complex. Every human society is, at its foundation, irreducibly complex.
Any comment that treats either as otherwise will be moderated; sometimes publicly, sometimes silently. We apply the sniff test: does it smell right, given the context? Given how tight our Editorship and Commentariat is, we will be judicious, as we have always been; for instance the Precedent post on the controversial Dhuruandar sequel remains Gaurav Lele’s.
This applies to both sides of every line we cover; geographical, civilisational, sectarian, or political.
We are not asking for bookishness. We are not asking for academic caution or diplomatic hedging. We are asking for the one thing that separates a pundit from a troll: considered thought. If you are going to cast aspersions, earn them. Make the case. Bring the weight. If you cannot, do not post.
We have a large and growing commentariat. That is something to be proud of. It is also a responsibility; to each other, and to the readers who come here because they expect better than what they can find elsewhere.
We expect better. We will enforce it.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
— The Editors, Brown Pundits Continue reading Open Thread + A Note on Standards
Open Thread
Formerly Brown asked me to post this:
1. Six Ukrainians and one US citizen have been arrested by india while crossing over from Myanmar. Apparently they were helping to create trouble in Myanmar, an eventually trying for a Christian state there. Sheikh hasina had sounded about US interests in such a venture.
2. Tamilnadu elections might be closer than expected. Side show: seeman’s Tamil party is attracting Brahmins!! who are opposed to Dravidians.
3. LDF might pop UDF once again in Kerala. Ironically both fronts are accusing each other of being B team of BJP, who have 1 seat currently!!!
4. Indian lokasabha is to add 215 more seats reserved exclusively for women by the 2029 polls. Modi has changed india for ever.
India Won the World Cup. Now the Hard Part.
Another version of this article has now appeared at BRAHM.
India won the T20WC yesterday becoming the first team to
Win it thrice | Win it at home | Win it back to back |
Won 3 ICC trophies back to back to back. I always knew this day was coming.
The Golden Age is not arriving. It has arrived.
Badshah’s structural point is right as far as it goes. A country of 1.4 billion people that loves one sport above all others was never going to stay second once the money came. The BCCI’s TV deal money, the IPL pipeline, the depth of the talent pool no. Bangladesh, Pakistan, the West Indies may genuinely no longer able to compete at the same level. Nothing can deny India, that is Bharat, waking up to her Destiny as a Global hegemon (InshAllah this prefaces greatness in others spheres of National Excellence).
But I want to push back gently on the linear framing. More wealth, more wealth, more wealth; therefore dominance. The model minority version of sport & geopolitics. It’s not wrong, but it’s incomplete.
War is what is in your belly
My Urdu teacher told me something interesting: war isn’t just about your technology. It’s what you have inside your heart. Sports exists, in part, as simulated war. And what makes sport compelling, what makes it actually compelling, not just statistically interesting, is that once the conflict starts, you genuinely don’t know what will happen.
Who is David? Who is Goliath?
Continue reading India Won the World Cup. Now the Hard Part.
India wins the T20 World Cup – The Golden Age is here and it’s permanent
India won the T20WC yesterday becoming the first team to
- Win it thrice
- Win it at home
- Win it back to back
- Win 3 ICC trophies back to back to back
I always knew this day was coming.
India is a cricket mad country of 1.4 billion+. That means India should have dominated all of cricket. Issue was India was a dirt poor country with most of the population barely surviving.
After the economic reforms, as India kept getting richer bit by bit, the team also kept improving bit by bit.
So I always knew this inflection point would come eventually.
But it is still surreal to watch it live.
Countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, SL, WI etc are no longer able to compete against India.
SENA maybe can give competition for a decade due to being rich countries.
But in 10-15 year’s time India will basically be what USA is to basketball.
Belated Holi 2026 Thread
Since what seems like World War 3 broke out a week ago, the fact that Holi was this past Wednesday (March 4) completely slipped my mind. I’m surprised that no one else on BP mentioned it either.
I just want to briefly share this recording of Gauhar Jaan singing “Mere Huzraat ne Madeene mein manayi Holi” (My Prophet played Holi in Medina). This is an example of the syncretic culture of Hindustani music. A Muslim artist (born Armenian Christian) singing a composition that references the Prophet of God celebrating a Hindu festival. This is the syncretic culture that has sadly been lost on both sides of the Radcliffe Line.
There is an excellent book on Gauhar Jaan titled My Name is Gauhar Jaan! (2010) by Vikram Sampath.
After the jump, there is another beautiful composition sung by Venkatesh Kumar. This is a thumri in Raga Mishra Kafi entitled “Aaj Khelo Shyam Sang Hori” (Let’s Play Holi with Shayam (Krishna) today” Continue reading Belated Holi 2026 Thread