Traffic
We published 76 posts and 1 podcast (Bangladesh) this month.
Traffic fell from ~55ā65k (SeptāOct) to ~33k in November.
However, comment activity remained strong at 819 comments (~27/day).
Tag: online discourse
Co-Founders Confer
I sent this email to the CoFounders of the Blog (Omar | Razib) and tomorrow I will send through the Monthly Author Report.
Interdiction
Iāve made a decision: Kabir will no longer be allowed to comment on Brown Pundits.
This isnāt about silencing the only active Pakistani Muslim voice here. Nor is it about shutting down disagreement. Itās about something more basic: respect; for this space, for conversation, and for the people who show up in good faith.
Earlier today, I had to invoke the five-comment deletion rule after one of Sbarrkumās replies crossed a line. He implied grotesque accusations. Iāve said it before: all life is sacred. That kind of slander wonāt stand. Ever.
The admins have asked me for some time to be firmer. Iāve held back. I value openness. But Brown Pundits is not a free-for-all. We care about how people argue, not just what they argue.
Iād meant to write something calmer after yoga. Because I care about this project. I believe in it. BP must be a place of respect. That comes from a deeper idea; dharma, a commitment to plurality and balance. Even when we fall short, thatās the standard we aim for.
Iām not saying India, or the BP commentariat, always gets it right. Sometimes, on topics like caste, we speak from a place of blind privilege. And as the founder, I know my voice carries weight. Thatās not always fair.
But this is the key: we must disagree with grace. And Kabir doesnāt. His tone is often scornful. He treats this space as beneath him.
Over the years, Iāve seen something: for many Pakistanis, the deepest value is ‘Izzat; honour and status. It often matters more than truth. But that ‘Izzat seems to vanish in the face of powerāespecially when that power is Western or Arab. Kabir speaks glowingly of āthe West.ā But when it comes to Dharma Asia, he sneers.
That sneer has been aimed at Brown Pundits. And I wonāt allow that anymore. Kabir may see BP as ālesser,ā unworthy of his respect. You donāt get to sneer and stay.
This isnāt a permanent ban. But it is an interdiction. Kabir is welcome to focus on his Substack. I wish him well. If he ever wants to return, he can contact me directly. But that will require real contrition; not performance.
Let me end with this: this is not about politics. People here hold strong views; on India, on Palestine, on religion. Thatās not the problem. The problem is contempt. Mockery. Scorn. Brown Pundits will always welcome hard conversations. But only if theyāre honest. And only if theyāre respectful.
On another happier note, Nigerian ingenuity:
Threads, Carpets, and PM Modi’s 75th
Happy Birthday Pradhan Mantri:
I watched several videos ā four or five, maybe more ā of public figures sending their wishes. Among them: Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Mohammed Siraj, and Mukesh Ambani.
Mukesh Ambani, of course, remains closely aligned with the establishment, and Aamir Khan seemed to lean heavily into his Hindu heritage ā adorned with Rakhis on his wrist, even a Bindi. Heās presenting himself now in a distinctly Hindu cultural idiom, though he comes from a very prominent Indian Muslim family.
By contrast, Shah Rukh Khan stood out. His message was subtly sardonic ā he remarked that the recipient was āoutrunning young people like me.ā It was light, but just subversive enough to feel intentional. Interestingly, both Shah Rukh and Aamir spoke in shuddh Hindi, which added a certain performative weight to their gestures.
Hindu Art
Iāve been fairly busy the past few days, mostly focused on BRAHM Collections;Ā writing about carpets, curating Trimurti sculptures, and exploring Ardhanarishvara iconography. Itās been a deep dive into the civilizational grammar of India and by extension, the porous boundary between sacred art and civil religion.
In the background, Iāve also been chipping away at longer-form reflections; trying to crack the formula for my newsletter (believe it or not the readership is neck to neck with BP but different demographics). Itās all a bit scattered, but the writing has become its own brown paper trail.
On the Commentariat (and Why Iām Stepping Back)
I still follow the commentariat but Iām slowly easing off. Thereās a rhythm to it, sure, but too often it turns into exhaustion. Iāve removed all of Honey Singhās abusive posts. Abuse is now a hard red line for me, but beyond that, Iām stepping back from constant moderation or sparring. Continue reading Threads, Carpets, and PM Modi’s 75th
When the Commentariat lies
Iāve updated this post (Brown Pundits is not an echo chamber) after realising something important.
What began as a spirited disagreement veered into something darker. It turns out that bombay_badshah, a voice I initially assumed to be new, may not be who he claims to be (I had a hunch but so did Kabir, that BB was HS reincarnated). The posting style, the fixations, the timing; all too familiar. My suspicion is that BB may be a derivative or proxy of HS, previously banned. If true, this was not a genuine disagreement; it was entrapment, bait-and-switch.
In that light, I owe Kabir an apology. He was provoked in bad faith by someone who may be operating behind a mask. And that matters, because here on Brown Pundits, identity isnāt incidental; it shapes perspective, and we respect that. We excavate worldviews, not just opinions.
While I cannot definitively prove that BB is HS, the circumstantial evidence is strong. I will allow BB to remain but if the commentary returns obsessively to Kabir or Pakistan, I will intervene. Everyone is welcome to engage on substance. But this space will not be hijacked.
The original post remains below the jump, unedited but its context has now changed.
š§µ Open Thread: Hate Speech, Travel Notes, and Diplomatic Surprises
I just saw a comment that genuinely crossed the line; not just a misstep, but something hateful, dehumanizing, and deeply communal. It invoked Partition violence in a way that glorified massacre. Thatās not just a dogwhistle, thatās a foghorn.
As most of you know, Iām a light-touch moderator. I tolerate a lot. I believe in messy dialogue. Iāve been fair on my WhatsApp groups, fair on BP, and generally try to err on the side of letting things play out. But this? This wasnāt a close call. It was a clear failure of moral language.
Even if the commenter didnāt āmean it,ā this kind of rhetoric has consequences. When youāre speaking about events like 1947, where entire families were destroyed, you need to speak with care, not contempt. Thereās no room for casual violence, coded language, or historical gloating. None. Zero.
Before this commenter contributes further to the blog, he will need to fully retract and apologise for the communal language he used. Criticism is fair game. But hate speech is not. Kabir can be theatrical, yes but he does not traffic in dehumanization. The standards must be consistent, and that comment clearly crossed the line.
Please observe this on the thread. Iām traveling, and this is an open post. Iāll be back with more soon. Iāve written a bit in my newsletter but I will expand on those.
In the meantime:
ā”ļø Yes, it appears Pakistan is running smart diplomacy ā both with Iran and the U.S.
ā”ļø I don’t have time to share the links (plane about to take off); theyāre all Google-able.
ā”ļø But credit where itās due. There is no infallibility in foreign affairs. But when someone cannot stand to see Pakistan get anything right, it reveals more about their own biases than about geopolitics.
This isnāt about defending states or “sides”; itās about defending basic decency in discourse.
What Is Brown Pundits For?
Brown Pundits has always been an open tentānot a monolith, not a movement, and certainly not a megaphone. A forum. A space where ideas, arguments, and identities from across the Brown world are aired, examined, and sometimes clashed overāwith the hope that we all leave a little sharper than we arrived. But with that openness comes tension. How do we balance quality and quantity? Principle and pluralism? Coherence and contradiction?
Itās something Iāve reflected on often in other matters of my life (like party-planning for instance). When Iām in the UK, time is tight. When Iām in the US, thereās more room for Brown Pundits. In that ebb, othersālike Kabirāhave stepped in, contributing with energy and range. And Iām grateful.
Some of Kabirās posts may align politically with The Wire. Thatās fine. Other Pundits lean toward a down-low Hindu Right. Also fine. This was never a place for orthodoxy. We arenāt here to gatekeep beliefāweāre here to grow through encounter. The real question isnāt what side are you on? Itās why are you here?
If youāre here to dunk, to declare, to dominateāmaybe this isnāt the right space. But if youāre here to engage, to learn, to argue in good faithāwelcome. As authors, we donāt always agree. We shouldnāt. But how we disagree matters. To that end, Iād like to lay out four standing principlesānot as commandments, but as shared norms that keep our house in order:
Flame Thread Protocols: Honey Kabir
A Note from the Editor
Flame thread warning: Honey vs. Kabir.
Last nightās open thread surged past 50 commentsāmost of it orbiting the now-familiar friction between the two.
Let me be clear: Iām inclined toward Kabir. Heās often overwrought, sometimes hyperbolic, but heās a known quantity. Heās been part of this space for nearly a decade. He is a “real person.” We know how he argues, where he lands, and the limits of his provocations.
Honey is harder to read. Multiple handles. No clear background. No track record. And a rhetorical posture that feels less like engagement, more like carpet bombingāespecially when it comes to Pakistan. Thereās a difference between critique and hatred, and itās usually in the tone. āPakistanis under-endowedāāLOL, happy to disprove that.
Moderation is evolving. I no longer think of it as refereeing an online debate. I think of it like hosting a discussion in my living room. That means: Continue reading Flame Thread Protocols: Honey Kabir