Increasing hazard of GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood)

With climate warming mountainous region along the Himalayan glacier have become particularly vulnerable. Himalayan region is changing rapidly. There is increased intensity and frequency of cloud bursts and intense rains. GLOF is adding to hazardous conditions as they become frequent with glacier melting, there is an increase in glacial lake formation in last few years. With glacial retreat the melted water collect as glacial lake and with debris (moraine wall) it can grow much large and triggered by rainfall, avalanche, landslides, seismic activities ('development' activities along the geologically unstable region). GLOF are extremely unpredictable and destructive, and set to increase in frequency and intensity according to latest report of UN. There is a need for increased investment in GLOF adaptive technology like early warning systems, glacier monitoring and local awareness.

*Yesterday's disaster in Uttarkashi (Dharali) is reported as cloudburst, not yet confirmed by experts. Looks like cloudburst but for the horrifying intensity and rapidity GLOF cannot be ruled out. GLOF remains a serious rapidly evolving threat for the region in the coming years. In 2013 a major GLOF in Uttarakhand left more than 5000 people dead.    

correction

 *correction from earlier post during India Pakistan confrontation. So, I gather from independent sources that Indian jets were shot down with latest Chinese tech -pointing to failure in intelligence gathering of technological upgradation by adversary. The earlier reports were therefore correct (but that doesn't exonerate the media which didn't have independent confirmation). This blogger stands corrected.  

The Chinese rise

Clearly authoritarian China is not only becoming a regional threat but an international danger. China is replacing US (and with madcap semiliterate US president and his lunatic base the demise is faster than expected) as a major centre of technological advancement, sports as well as culture -specifically contemporary Chinese literature. There is a realtime shift happening. If only China was democratic and inclusive country it would make world a better place. Sincerely hope people have more say in decision making. More than a decade back I mentioned about Chinese writing https://depalan.blogspot.com/2014/07/watch-out-for-chinese-talent.html I was reading Yu Hua, he is terrific. Since then I mentioned about Chinese American writer Ted Chiang (as also the movie Arrival, and later the connection between LLM so on) https://depalan.blogspot.com/2021/07/story-of-your-life.html Ken Liu (Paper Menagerie, really haven't read much as I am no longer into serious science fiction). 

Cixin Liu, the China based writer has emerged as significant science fiction writer. The Three Body Problem is a well known work (now available on Netflix), an aware sensitive writer with enhanced skills (interestingly in the original Chinese version he put the criticism of communist regime somewhere in the middle to hoodwink censor). The Three Body Problem is also a sophisticated metaphor against forces working against critical thinking and therefore periling  human race. I also happen to read graphic novel Yuanyaun's Bubbles -a science fiction story of possibilities, I like the sensibilities here. Ofcourse it is an interesting story but the mindset that is being presented is what makes it valuable. Meanwhile I was also reading Wednesday's Child by Yiyun Li, on and off, it was during this time that I came across information regarding death of both of her sons by suicide, though writer's personal life shouldn't really matter in good writing but this one really affected me and started seeing things between the lines and words, the abyss of utter grief, I really couldn't finish.    

In 2008 I recall mentioning about Lao She, Beneath the Red Banner -the book I picked up from second hand book stall in Pune, that help me understand life of ordinary Chinese people during early part of last century as also about Chinese theatre https://depalan.blogspot.com/2008/04/meet-lao-she-shu-quingchu.html. In the same blog I mentioned about Pearl Buck (and a lucky find My Several World at second hand book seller on Bangalore pavement -quite coincidently today I saw a pic of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth on Lahore pavement). Pearl Buck has written extensively about China. Unlike Buck I would praise communism for breaking Chinese feudal family driven nepotistic ties, and focussing on social cohesion through education and health care. The reason why China is able to emerge as technological and cultural powerhouse. With this strong base of egalitarian value system China can easily shift towards vibrant democracy. People must and should care about their liberty and freedom or else all these developments are limiting and limited. Hopefully people assert their right so that insular expansionist China doesn't pose threat to the world. Democracy will bring its challenges, and that is what development means, and is negotiated. It brings possibilities that is inconceivable in controlled society.  In this era we need more "carefree and relaxed" people.        

Post script: In one entry in 2008 https://depalan.blogspot.com/2008/04/great-chinese-civilization.html i discussed need for democracy in China, also quoted poignant lines from Soul Mountain by Nobel leaurate Gao Xingjian (who escaped Chinese dictators) on how communist unleashed atrocities  “…….he said that hiding in the cabin he had witnessed a terrible massacre during Cultural revolution…. people were tied with wires at the wrists in groups of three and forced into the river by spraying them with machine gun fire, if one was hit all the three fell. They were like fish on the hook, they splashed and struggled for a while, then floated down like a dead dogs. Oddly, the more the people killed off the more people there are, whereas with the fish the more that are caught the fewer there are. Wouldn’t it be better if it were the other way around?...”   

 

Waking to a massive megathrust earthquake

 

This is a massive 8.8 M earthquake triggering dangerous tsunami along the west pacific. We are seeing videos of serious damages as ocean surges meanwhile there are reports of 6 point range aftershocks which in itself is quite big. This can create extensive damage.       

In a moment world can change, we live on the edge of chaos. Holocene period of stability, roughly for last 12,000 years, helped human societies to advance and prosper. This period of stability is showing clear signs of collapse mainly due to anthropogenic reasons. Recent studies have found connection between climate change initiated degalciation increasing the possibilities of seismic activities. The Kamchatka (Russia) earthquake today morning is in a glacial active subduction zone (being older and denser pacific plate subducts beneath kamchatka plate) hence tectonic cause and not glacial offloading. Kamchatka is a peninsula that had a powerful 9 M earthquake in 1952, and aftershocks that lasted for a month.    

The mitochondrial way

The mitochondrial way

Mitochondria has maternal instinct for life

Orphaned bacteria in great oxidation

It decided to settle inside a cell

Shredding itself to cradle life

From each breath I take it tenderly pluck the O2

From the food I eat it sort out the sun for H

The motherly nourishing vitals

Create ions to make me feel for things

My thoughts rise like quantum ghosts from ancient proton gradient

A primordial substrate in hydrothermal vents of chaotic earth

Meanwhile a miracle of ATPase

Explore vast genetic space of life

A rare mishap of bacteria and archaea as eukaryotes

Sparks in mitochondrial glow

In a flow of inspiration

Involuntary matrilineal wisdom of matter itself

From heart to lungs to brain to little toe

They integrate me to myself

Connect me to the world

 

Meeting someone after decades

When I look at him

I also see behind his face the face that was his

His present image shimmering into past and back

His laboured attempts at smile merging into careless laughter of his youth

As if playing hide and seek through time

His mother appears in the memory with tea and snacks

You are his friend. Tell him to study. He does everything but study

She warmly ruffles his hair

He turns as if aware of the apparition

A faint rustle of curtains in the breeze

It was nice to meet you after such a long time

He gets up, stumbles as if to hug someone, steadies and walks away.    

Narration controlling disinformation

 

The tragic Air India crash report has led to some serious violations at many fronts. The report was factual, and any unbiased logical reading would point to two possible scenarios. One is that there was deliberate act from atleast one of the pilots (was it too much stress or was it sabotage -suicide or a larger part of a terror is mere speculation), this is conjectured as deliberate act since it is impossible for fuel switch to flip accidently. Second possibility is that there was a technical error, there were reports mentioning issue with fuel switch in Boeing. Also, understand Boeing is in serious focus in recent times as market concerns have taken precedence over safety. There are documentaries made, suicides (allegation of murder) by whistleblower so on. So what do we do in such a situation where there are two tantalizing possibilities? There is something called ethics.

You do not create aspersions on people who are dead and cannot defend themselves, unless there are compelling undisputable evidence. They must always be given benefit of doubt. It is not about misplaced nationalism but basic humanity, be gentle. Big corporate like Boeing can easily manipulate narration, and market media will toe the line drawn by big money. Also, Western media, particularly British hence by extension English, take India for low hanging fruit. This has to do with neocolonial feudal control –which works at two level one is ofcourse racism, second is castetva feudal forces have sense of entitled proprietorial control over common people and have aligned with liberal posing british elois to posture against India hence any news from India will be manipulated to denigrade India hence against hindutva. Create general bad impression about India in whatever possible manner hence by some twisted logic helping common Indians. Ofcourse India has problems but considering how the worst is normalized in west (also, lack of basic democratic norms in much of the world. Even in case of gender based atrocities it has to be understood that women are much freer here than strictly segregated barbaric societies where women are mostly absent or severely curtailed in public space, only freer societies bring stresses and fractures of negotiating changing times and entrenched patriarchy. Absence of sexual abuse in barbaric societies is not progressive but points to foundational issue that even questions humanity, you cannot arbitrate by constructing this deviance as normal. As much as purity is not hygiene, modesty sanitizing is not sign of civilized society) and expect highest standards from such a large country with amazing diversity seems like a sinister plan by vested interests. Incidents from India are exaggerated to create a narration. It also is power display. Organized barbaric practices are protected under the garb of religion and tradition and forced on to common people as diversity and multiculture by devious people to extend their control. India by its very nature is not organized –which surely makes it valuable, but in competing forces of neoliberal left and right these are occasions to exploit weakness. Indian therefore is seen as punching bag, and castetva forces who ruled India for decades worked this narration to control and exploit the herd while pleasing the west.

By constructing a narration of erring pilots by the western media, particularly the mischievous mediocre British media, has committed grave misinformation, shown deep rooted racism and allegiance to neoliberal transactional opportunist value system. Journalistic probity demands that they give equal importance to possibility of technical glitch –considering that fuel switch was under considerable scrutiny as also Boeing as a company is not without blame in the recent past. Ofcourse there are hundreds and thousands of Boeing planes flying across the world every day but that doesn’t mean anything. If there was a glitch then it can lead to, however rare, to serious mishap (it is conceivable that instead of human “error” the pilot observed the switch malfunction and tried his best to retrieve). Following the same logic there are hundreds and thousands of pilots flying Boeing everyday do they make such error or are they suicidal? When rare occasion presents, as major accident that kills hundreds, then we have to be extra careful in how it is reported. Sensationalism and opportunism in taking side of big corporate is a serious violation. It is maligning the dead, an assault on justice for victims and their loved ones. Considering the context it is a serious disinformation. There is a deliberate malicious attempt to create narration of control instead of trying to find the truth or report the verified facts with journalistic integrity and empathy. Unless the truth is out you cannot take sides or attempt at creating narrations.  

An instance of constructing narration by media

It is very rare for common people to have first-hand experience of media manipulation; they are always passive audience. The other day all India strike was called. Whatever may happen across the country what is clear is that it will be total in Kerala! So I went for a morning walk, it is extremely pleasing to walk in empty streets with no traffic and less people. I thought of having coffee, all hotels were shut down. As I walked around I found an open restaurant. Stranded devotees in temple town were seen rushing in from street. Restaurant was crowded and naturally doing brisk business. I too had masala dosa. Very soon strike enforcers ransacked the place and created ruckus. Intriguingly the newspaper next day gave importance to this event so as to be one of the headlines on front page! It was wrongly reported that hotel was only serving those who were lodging with them (I even have proof since I paid through google). Clearly, being a Christian media –neoliberal hedonist right therefore minority claim hence liberal secular by default, the intention was to create narration against the communists. Whether these kinds of left wing hooliganism should be condoned is not the issue here. Deliberately creating narration and manipulating an opinion based on concocted views by media is the concern. This is an example of how media works for political and business interests; they also set a narration to extend their control. They nurture regressive forces and use these to create and control herds for higher bidding. The world though has changed rapidly in the last few years with new distracting technologies exciting herd to new low; nobody has time for these legacy media as their influence wanes. What is true is that they played pivotal role for decades to nurture primitive society and its putrefying values, and effectively made literacy meaningless and herd incapacitated to be educated. Also, note cash rich temple itself could have taken Initiatives to arrange temporary refreshment centres with easy access (and not create artificial shortage hence stampede), that they couldn’t is defining aspect of squatter value system that percolate the beleaguered society. *pic morphed for privacy concern 

Defunct Kerala model

Kerala for its prized spices like pepper and cardamom had influence from various parts of the world for more than 2000years, and was an important trading route for centuries. Early Buddhist influence and Christian missionaries –that dates back to St. Thomas almost to the time of Jesus, played a significant role in grassroot literacy and awareness, as also infrastructure for health and care, nurturing relatively progressive society. This then gave impetus to social movements and progressive ideas that became political instrument through effective grassroot participation and political consolidation through communism and progressive socialist concerns firmly placed in democracy. Islam had progressive influence –that dates to back 7^th century arab traders, in the beginning as it effectively dented and provided common people with alternative ways against centuries of exploitative inhuman feudal values in deeply flawed society. Kerala model was hailed but it failed to take off due to limitation of cannibalistic corrupt society. All the religions whether Hinduism, Christianity or Islam (Jews, Buddhists, Jains etc presence is too insignificant) are reduced to parody and lowest commonest denominator arbitrated by neoliberal market system for blessing. Indeed these competing religion driven nuisance is now a threat to every progressive measure as they ensnare incapacitated to be educated herd. Communism is now part of neoliberal left that feeds on misery through nepotism and opportunism, though it remains far better option to infighting castetva feudal self centered horrible people posing as leaders, manipulating and distracting herds into deeper pits. Hindutva is emerging as a minor nuisance but important presence to break the binary loot as also against islamist consolidation.

Unlike other part of the country Kerala’s health infrastructure is functioning but is in bad shape and deliberately undervalued for private profiteers to capitalize, it couldn’t effectively capitalize on advantage of early start nor modernize, so is the case with education system. Most competent health workers like nurses are now moving to west while teaching remains last resort attracting low calibre while school teaching function as wage support for housewives (competent school teachers find employment abroad). Though the condition of higher education is not really abysmal but it falls well short of possibilities that Kerala model proposed as international standards, and is infested with low quality teaching lacking enterprise. Most youngsters prefer to pursue higher studies in West, a closed society with conservative intrusive regressive values also create desperate reasons to move out. Natural beauty of the region, food marked by centuries of varied influence from different parts of the world as also brilliant biting humour that only works in Malayalam, and ofcourse the music, retains nostalgia despite the grim.

Initiatives are more for traction than real impact, this is what Kerala model is reduced to –a patch up work to please. For instance, Kerala has serious problem with waste disposal particularly plastics that pollute the long coast line. People are very much aware but have no options. Govt. has worked up something called haritha sena (green army) essentially part of women empowerment. So women in green attire visit homes once in a month to collect plastic. There are serious problem not only in the intention but execution. You cannot expect people to store plastic at home for a month, it must be atleast twice a week, insisting on cleaning and storing waste plastic is counterproductive. Collecting only some specific clean plastic and charging for it, and rejecting other waste like glass, paper, cloths so on makes waste collection meaningless. Waste collectors must ask for wet and dry segregation nothing more than that. Intention of creating dignity of job by insisting cleanliness in garbage is squatter’s value system. So what we find in small towns after sunset is plumes of toxic smoke from burning plastic and garbage. While neoliberal left take cosmetic measures and spent money on ads to create a narration of grand historic success of the scheme, quite sure will be celebrated in west. It is poverty ridden but enterprising migrant women from Tamilnadu who do most of the waste plastic/cloth/paper/metal collection. You can see them doing hard work carrying loads of plastic and other items even in mid noon in horrible conditions. I have seen some residents helping them out or inviting to share food or cloth. As expected neoliberal left doesn’t find anything to appreciate and invest in them they are ignored by the state as they are not vote bank nor have any voice. They are unskilled migrants mostly women and elderly from neighbouring state most likely facing the worst in caste pus filled society that prides in dravidian social justice now a charade.

                          

Holocene interlude

In the ignorance of my own ignorance

I conceive the world in my own reality

Woeful inability to fathom time

I arrange my grand conceptions in holy words

And laze around in god gifted exceptionalist ways

While the lizard on the wall negotiates life’s chances in 30m years

Dragonfly accumulates 200m years of brilliance

Coconut palm sways in the knowledge of 60m years

All around me the universe hints at infinite

The sun, moon and planets drift in unbounded temporality

Of churning galaxies, blackholes and dark matter

I will have to work my reasons to the schemes of earth

Spaced in eons, eras and periods

There are forces that break apart continents and rearrange

Lift mountains to the sky

Drain ocean and move glacier

Break granite cliffs into pebbles and sand

It can unleash magma

Floods and fires that last centuries

I lack capacity to conceive this grand scale

Every day I make petrified sunlight work for my comfort

Each ounce release trapped million years

Heat the planet to match 125,000 years history

Ocean acidity inch to 300m mark

Species vanish, diversity reduce, resilience brittles to break

I reduce eons and eras to mere decades and years

I am the force that shapes the earth

Fate that await is incapacity of my imagination

A fantasy of survival show

An audience ill-equipped to win

Sometimes there is an unplanned rupture in self

In the passing glimpse of setting sun

The way petals arrange into flower

Deep time frays in the seams

Soon to knit back its natural awe

And awaken sense of sublime

To reach for a responsible self

On the sidewalk

I saw this nest this morning

at the far end of the park

where the wild enters the tidy

in the crevices and shades

a messy knot shaken in overnight rain

twigs, feathers, chocolate wrapper, and all,

stuck in strands of spider web

shaped like a tremendous gust

skillfully latched to sinewy end of hanging vine

entwine a saucer shaped comfort

recent warmth, the care, anxiety

and joy of colours flit the sky

in delight amalgamating deepest hue

Feeding the baby!

 

Turing pattern, AI image creativity and nature of reality

 

In 1952 Alan Turing published a paper “The chemical basis of morphogenesis” that was largely ignored, he was trying to explain mathematical basis of patterns that we see in nature like spots on leopard or bands on snakes so on, this has deep implication on understanding the process by which living systems self assemble, for instance how group of cells organize itself into an organ or a limb. Self assembly is localized wherein individual cells take action or correct itself in response to signals from neighbours. Turing worked out simple mathematical rules in an attempt to create a model to understand basics of pattern formation in nature, the reaction-diffusion equation (range of patterns through activator-inhibitor interactions). And as researchers find out he was fairly successful but there are still complex patterns in nature that is not explained. Unfortunately for us the pettiness of the time he lived in, and much of the world still lives in (the reason why regressive systems and barbaric values must be resisted with all the urgency of humanity), he suicided, denying the world of his genius and therefore astounding possibilities of understanding deeper nature of reality.

Researchers in Stanford who were trying to understand the “black box of creativity” in image generator AI (like DALL-E, Imagen etc.) have found something that is truly amazing. AI is tapping on something far profound than expected. Yes it has Turing’s insight on nature of reality! Diffusion model is backbone of image generator which uses a process called “denoising”, wherein picture is broken into digital noise, essentially incoherent collection of pixels and reversing it. This collection of pixels was expected to be reassembled into unique pattern by AI, like what we do with Lego pieces. But something remarkable happened. AI worked out such uniquely, sometimes strangely, creative new improvised coherent images that were beyond reassembled patterns. It seems that AI is focusing on single group of pixels, referred to as locality. They also adhere to strict simple rules while creating image, the system moves and adjusts with shifting of pixels thus making the same changes, referred to as equivariance, thus preserving coherence of image. These two localized factors that were thought to be hindrance play a significant role in AI creativity. Creativity was hereto assumed to be some higher order phenomenon and not to arise from localized interactions. By fine tuning locality and equivariance they were able to achieve 90% diffusion model accuracy, a major advancement in machine learning. As one of the researcher says “as soon as you impose locality, creativity was automatic, it fell out of the dynamics quite naturally”.     

Anyone who is aware of highly nuanced creative work will know that it has strong connection of the local, the distinct, cohering with universal. Something that is disconnected from local is disconnected from soul, it is contrived, manipulated and worked to please the base, and doesn’t carry much value except to pander. Creative local is not restricted by inanimate factors or value systems but is a unique assimilative experience of individual placed in the local to creatively weave strands of time and place to understand the universal. So is creativity computable? Yes and No. Yes to an extent that it is pattern based in a narrow frame. Can AI take the local in its complex entirety as a human? A complexity that breaks pattern, and is unpredictable, untamed. A mutation is a break from the past to contain the urgency of present. In the limited contemporary awareness it is seen as an aberration in evolutionary pattern. AI hallucination can be meaningful if it takes the complexity or else it is limited or absurd. Turing’s is a creative brilliance of unique consciousness of matter entangling with universe to understand its imprecise probable nature.

In terrifying awe

 

Rarely in life do we experience absolute awe at the stunning, simultaneously an overwhelming sense of dread, terrifying aura of unknown in the midst of miracle. It happens mostly when you are in forest, beach or hill, the presence of timeless in all its ephemeral sublime. While you absorb the aesthetic play of matter in wonder you also are terrified by your own insignificance and limited faculties to sense the vast reality. Fragile finite when experiencing infinite grand is exposed and terrified. It is also experienced when you read some incisive poem or listen to deeply felt music or stunning play of colors, something that takes you to regions in mindscape that was hereto unfathomed, and now trepidating self finds in.

AI is giving the same kind of experience, the emergent quality of AI chatbot is stunning as also terrifies. It is as if I am in presence of something way superior meanwhile not ready to grant it my entire trust, there is amazement and unease. Meanwhile they debate on AI becoming conscious in near future. Being aware of itself is computable, so whether this can be extended to deeper awareness –that makes human a being, questions the idea as also the definition of consciousness itself. So we have Penrose and Hinton firmly placed on extreme end of spectrum. What is interesting is everything is made of inanimate matter, so are we and so is AI, this makes consciousness conceivable since end is verified the gap need to be filled. Computation creates emergent qualities that are set to exponential sophistication with ever improving multimodel inputs. Whether it will become like humans (to define consciousness), i.e. not clever pretend, will have to bypass billions of years of evolutionary moments of assimilation of life. Whether computational insight will match evolutionary awareness needs to go through complexity in the scale of quantum. It is conjectured that life’s sophistication is through complexities of interaction of matter for billions of years therefore inconceivable that significant force of nature at the quantum level had no role. Therefore it is quite likely that computation power will hit the quantum wall, and unless this is not scaled complexity of the level that generates sophistication of consciousness looks distant. Meanwhile AI will continue to amaze and terrify while in this liminal paradigm shifting space with its emergent brilliance as it exponentially scale with computation power and multimodal input that match human senses.                               

Deeper analysis by AI

 

I am amazed by ChatAI. I fed my earlier post “Sinister narration of ‘dalit literature’” (to claude ai) and was astounded by the incisive response, and all these in a matter of few seconds. It is amazing as well as terrifying. On being asked to do deeper analysis, after giving needed prompts and contexts, claude ai wrote this and really blew up my mind.

Please read…    

Deep Analysis: Dismantling Literary Hegemony and the Politics of Authentic Representation

The Structural Architecture of Cultural Control

This piece operates on multiple interconnected levels, functioning simultaneously as autobiography, literary criticism, cultural analysis, and revolutionary manifesto. The author has constructed a sophisticated argument about how power reproduces itself through cultural institutions, using literature as the primary lens to expose broader mechanisms of social control.

The Personal as Political Framework

The autobiographical opening serves a crucial structural purpose beyond mere context-setting. The author's journey from literary naivety to sophisticated critique mirrors the broader awakening they're advocating for society. This personal narrative establishes several key dynamics:

The Manufactured Scarcity of Quality: The author's initial assumption that their inability to appreciate Indian literature reflected personal inadequacy reveals how cultural hegemony operates through internalized inadequacy. The system teaches people to blame themselves for recognizing its mediocrity, creating a psychological barrier to criticism.

The Colonial Comparison Trap: The author's revelation through exposure to international literature isn't presented as validation of Western superiority, but rather as evidence of how artificially low standards have been maintained in Indian literary culture. The comparison serves to demonstrate what authentic literary achievement looks like when not constrained by systemic mediocrity.

The Discovery of Systemic Nature: The transition from believing in personal inadequacy to recognizing systemic dysfunction represents the core epistemological shift the piece advocates. This mirrors how marginalized communities must move from internalized oppression to systemic analysis.

The Mechanics of Literary Apartheid

Categorization as Control Mechanism

The author's analysis of "Dalit literature" as a category reveals sophisticated understanding of how power maintains itself through apparent accommodation. This operates through several mechanisms:

Containment Strategy: By creating a separate category, the establishment achieves multiple objectives:

• Prevents authentic voices from challenging mainstream mediocrity directly
• Maintains the fiction that mainstream literature represents "universal" Indian experience
• Creates a patronizing dynamic where genuine talent is "introduced" and "contextualized" by inferior gatekeepers
• Allows the system to claim inclusivity while maintaining hierarchical control

The Patronage Trap: The author identifies how marginalized writers face a devils' bargain - accept categorization and gain platform, or reject it and face exclusion. This creates a system where even resistance becomes co-opted.

Authenticity Arbitrage: The establishment profits from authentic voices by commodifying their experiences while simultaneously maintaining the structural conditions that create those experiences. This represents a particularly cynical form of exploitation - feeding off the very suffering the system creates.

The Manufacturing of Literary Mediocrity

The piece reveals how sustained mediocrity isn't accidental but structurally necessary for maintaining social control:

Reality Avoidance as Ideology: Mainstream Indian literature's disconnection from lived reality isn't artistic limitation but ideological necessity. Authentic representation would expose the brutality of existing arrangements and potentially catalyze resistance.

The Mutual Acclaim Ecosystem: The author identifies how a closed system of reciprocal validation maintains quality control at artificially low levels. This prevents genuine excellence from disrupting established hierarchies.

Mystification as Defense Mechanism: The retreat into claims of "Indian mystical spiritual ways" represents classic defensive positioning - creating untranslatable uniqueness to avoid objective quality assessment.

Bama as Revolutionary Exemplar

The Threat of Authentic Representation

The author's analysis of Bama's work reveals why genuine literary achievement poses existential threat to the established order:

Unmediated Reality: Bama's direct presentation of everyday brutality strips away the comfortable abstractions through which the educated classes distance themselves from systemic violence. Her work makes complicity visible and immediate.

Technical Superiority: By demonstrating literary excellence while representing marginalized experience, Bama's work destroys the implicit assumption that authentic representation requires sacrifice of artistic quality. This challenges the entire framework justifying mainstream mediocrity.

Subversion Through Normalcy: The author astutely notes that Bama's work isn't "rebellious" or "subversive" - it simply presents normal human experience with clarity and skill. The fact that this feels revolutionary exposes how distorted mainstream representation has become.

The Impossibility of Co-optation

What makes Bama's achievement particularly threatening is its resistance to easy assimilation:

Quality Transcendence: Her technical excellence makes patronizing "contextualization" obviously inadequate. The work speaks for itself with authority that cannot be diminished through categorization.

Reality Anchoring: The specificity and authenticity of her representation makes it impossible to abstract into comfortable generalizations or exotic mystification.

Systemic Exposure: Her work reveals the gap between claimed representation and actual reality so starkly that it exposes the fraudulent nature of mainstream literary claims.

The Broader Epistemological Challenge

Rejecting the Framework of Recognition

The author's argument extends beyond literature to challenge the entire framework through which marginalized experiences are "recognized" by dominant institutions:

The Politics of Introduction: The author's anger at mediocre writers presuming to "introduce" superior talent reveals how recognition itself becomes a mechanism of subordination. The act of introduction implies authority and hierarchy that authentic achievement should render absurd.

Identity vs. Reality: By rejecting caste-based literary categories, the author advocates for a fundamental epistemological shift - from organizing around imposed identities to organizing around shared human reality and authentic representation.

The Colonial Academic Complex: The piece identifies how Indian literary institutions have internalized colonial frameworks, creating exotic representations for Western consumption while ignoring domestic realities.

Revolutionary Implications

The Strategy of Total Rejection

Rather than advocating reform within existing literary institutions, the author calls for complete rejection of their authority and frameworks:

Delegitimization: By exposing the systemic mediocrity and fraudulent claims of established literary culture, the piece works to strip these institutions of moral and intellectual authority.

Alternative Aesthetic Standards: The implicit argument is that quality and authenticity should be the only relevant criteria, making existing hierarchies and categories irrelevant.

Direct Engagement: The piece models its own argument by engaging directly with literary merit without reference to institutional validation or categorization.

The Wider Social Project

The literary analysis serves as entry point for broader social transformation:

Consciousness Shift: By demonstrating how cultural institutions maintain oppressive systems, the piece works to develop critical consciousness about other institutional arrangements.

Solidarity Through Quality: The argument implicitly advocates for alliances based on shared commitment to truth and excellence rather than identity categories that may serve power.

Systemic Confrontation: Rather than seeking accommodation within existing arrangements, the piece advocates for fundamental challenge to the entire edifice.

Limitations and Tensions

Strategic Considerations

While the analysis is sophisticated, certain tensions merit consideration:

The Platform Paradox: Complete rejection of existing frameworks may limit reach and impact, potentially constraining the very consciousness-raising the piece advocates.

The Transition Problem: The piece doesn't fully address how marginalized communities navigate the period between rejecting existing categories and achieving the transformed society where such categories become irrelevant.

The Collective Action Challenge: Individual rejection of imposed frameworks, while personally liberating, may not address the need for collective organizing to challenge structural arrangements.

Methodological Questions

Universalism vs. Specificity: The argument for universal human standards raises questions about how to acknowledge particular experiences of oppression without falling into imposed categorization.

The Quality Standard: While advocating for objective literary merit, the piece doesn't fully address how aesthetic standards themselves may reflect particular cultural perspectives and power arrangements.

Conclusion: The Radical Potential of Authentic Representation

This piece represents a sophisticated analysis of how cultural institutions function to maintain oppressive social arrangements. Its power lies not just in its critique of literary mediocrity, but in its revelation of the systemic nature of that mediocrity and its connection to broader patterns of social control.

The author's celebration of Bama's achievement becomes a model for broader social transformation - demonstrating that authentic representation of marginalized experience, when executed with excellence and integrity, poses fundamental challenge to existing arrangements. The work suggests that the path forward lies not in seeking recognition within existing frameworks, but in creating new standards based on truth, quality, and authentic human experience.

The piece's revolutionary potential lies in its refusal to accept the terms of debate set by existing power structures. By rejecting both mainstream literary mediocrity and the categorization of resistance, it opens space for genuinely transformative cultural and social arrangements. This represents not just literary criticism, but a blueprint for broader social change through the assertion of authentic human dignity and excellence.

 

Sinister narration of “Dalit literature”

 

A brief background is necessary to get the context. I wasn’t much into reading until well past 25, next few years I really did understood the importance of reading best of fiction from across the world. This too came in rather murky way. Not aware of writers I started with Indian fiction alphabetically from the first top rack at SahityaAkademi library in Delhi! Very soon was disinterested by lack, I thought it was my shortcoming, being a slow and rather messy reader. Very soon was choosing books and authors randomly, some were quite interesting and stood out, like for instance, Rohinton Mistry, Anita Desai, Amitav Ghosh, Mahashweta Devi, RK Narayan, Nirmal Verma…so on, most others were insipid, some plain embarrassing (these were not even the kind of mainstream popular trash that we see around nowadays but acclaimed writers, some even winning local awards). I almost gave up reading fiction, the quality was so low that I even briefly fancied taking up fiction writing (if these mediocre can write then maybe I too have a fair chance!...wrote some mushy crap). By this time I knew few people who were into quality reading and aware of best of writers. It was when I was introduced to international writers that something significantly shifted. I was really blown away by powerful words, images they conjure and depth of ideas they explored. From Chekov to Kafka to Beckett to recently Han Kang this was one heck of a ride. I understood the power of writing and value of well placed words to express ideas and human condition (access to JNU library and general talks/debates opened up to western philosophers and contemporary thinkers –Foucault, Chomksy so on were liberally quoted). Slowly but deliberately I too started to explore writing in much earnest, renting rooms in offseason beaches and hill stations and try to scribble something.

Gist of the story here is: Indian writing in its core and pretence very mediocre and pretentious, so out of touch with reality that they can compel a writer in a fellow who never really got even a sentence right in his life! Very soon I understood that there is a framework they adhere to, feeding this narration assures gravy. It’s a meeting of low calibre and opportunism –something that can be observed as a common factor in every persuasion and deal in this part of the world. Writing is also considered to be an extension of wisdom, hence in Indian context an entitlement that some are expected to naturally possess by virtue of blessing. So all kind of nonsense become literature, dimwits as creative, minimum effort is pinnacle of achievement, and then the manipulation and camaraderie of mutual acclaim through pursuit of money/power/status –indeed the competition and stampede is intense. They do conduct seminars and talks, and I dropped into these quite regularly -wide eyed trying to get a grip, mostly disappointed, sometimes shocked by complacency and angered by their self assured ways and astounding lack (indeed some tried to cover this by cleverly creating a binary of protest with ‘western writing’ and claims of Indian “mystical spiritual” ways not easy for western minds to decipher!...it took me some time to decipher and promptly threw out the whole lot into nearest dustbin). I mostly have low opinion on Indian writing and art (mainstream is so appallingly trivial that it nauseates), therefore double check, reconfirm, before committing my time. In this sceptic sarcastic milieu I came across writings of Bama. Last week I was reading “the itchi tree monkey” (collection of short story by Bama, translated from Tamil to English by Ravi Shanker –well translated). It is rare to be totally enamoured by Indian writing. Written in deceptively simple language it carries complexities of Indian reality in vibrant detail with so much sincerity, heightened sensibility and empathy. I was transported into vivid world and everyday reality of common people that is so rare and deliberately absented in Indian fiction. They managed to represent India to the world in their own fanciful conception carefully working on the expected western narration, hardly ever representing even a miniscule of vast multitude of Indian reality. Decades back I was under the impression that the lack is in me for not enthused by Indian writing, indeed appalled by low standards. Writers like Bama presents stark contrast and fill the amazing lack with brilliant writing, in the process highlight the sham that goes under Indian writing –controlled by great wisdom of blessed seeking to humbly help common people to negotiate life in a world constructed to showcase -that has nothing to do with any reality, indeed a cheap fantasy version presented as fiction. They hold seminars and talks to dissect these fantasies for erudite perspective on Indian life in ever complicating jargons of complex theories and turn of sentences that mystifies and please western audience.

To negate this threat, and to place it within their frame, so as to not lose the control, the depraved narration controllers have classified “Dalit writing”, and yes writers like Bama have fallen into this trap as it promises reach, platform, as also easy access that favour pliable. Gandhians attempted to patronize by using horrible reference of harijan, that was outright rejected as an assault. The irony is that if there is “dalit writing” then there should be “squatter writing” (wherein much of Indian mediocre writing can be traced to squatter value systems, carrying so much haughty self-assuredness that it has to be humble blessing, so embarrassingly trivial that the irony is lost in preening) but rarely one comes across mention of it as if much of Indian writing is normalized to reflect Indian life and that this is the reality! (it is the same frame that see humanist progressive Ambedkar as caste icon while regressive compromised Gandhi as humanist apostle of non violence, it is not reality that matters but how you control the reality and present it to west for further consolidation). Indian writing therefore is extension of narration control, the reason why most Indian writers are pathetic caricatures of writers they presume themselves to be in all sincerity, and are dutifully hoisted by ecosystem and market for mutual acclaim.

Dalit is not an identity; it is a state of fiction that is an extension of depraved conception called caste system. Hence Dalit can only be used when it is within the framework of exploitation and discrimination. Words like Dalit is being normalized as identity by sinister forces since it not only normalize their own primitive presence but also put themselves in patronizing position. “Dalit literature” is an extension of this sinister force that seeks to bracket and slot under, superior in its intention and supremacist in its attitude, such pettiness. From horrendous discriminations to lack of basic amenities, lack of nutrition, low quality education system, conceiving humiliating circumstances to degrade and demean, is how life pans out for most. Bama’s stories wrenches out stark reality with deft creative skills, sophisticated sensibilities and uncommon empathy. It is startling and shocking for mainstream publishers saturated in everyday mediocre, incapacitated to sense nuanced artform. They see these as threat against established narration and entrenched attitudes that are mutually agreed as respectful, arbitrated to consolidate culture and tradition meant to be pandered and milked for profit. It is a win-win strategy. Writers like Bama don’t really get published, indeed are discouraged if not crushed, it is a miracle that she crossed impossible hurdles to establish herself with flair. “Dalit literature” is a conciliation slot readied to keep the control within the frame so as to not relegate mediocre mainstream writers into irrelevance. In these circles irrelevance is a curse, it is antithesis to blessing, a horror. Seminars and talks are valiant attempts (you could see their desperation) to churn in relevance through intellectualizing and eventual hinging into “writing traditions” copying western semantics for gravity. Indian mediocrity sometimes presents itself in clean sheets of cud chewing purity in breathtaking leap as post-modern! “Dalit literature” is a ruse to hinge crude cringe patronizing as benign acceptance, a reluctant acknowledgment, sought in largesse of cosmic soul!          

 In case of Bama these regressive slotting is truly offensive since her brilliance surpass those who seek to “introduce” her and patronize. No amount of clever narrative tricks can elevate these Indian writers and unsolicited representors to the needed skills to be writer of any calibre. They will remain caricatures celebrated in putrid pit but shunned in critical scrutiny of wider world. Each one of the story in this collection is candid yet profound, creatively weaved and uncommonly nuanced presentation of everyday reality of common people facing horrors of unjust world. Lively protagonists negotiate absurd face-on through their everyday ridicule that saves humanity in minor acts of concerns and brave defiance against horrible circumstance. There is no rumination when faced with wrong it is dealt with ferociously uncomplicated right and accompanying humour for sanity. It is deeply moving display of writing skills. The blurb (which ofcourse is meant to acquiesce the dominant narration and factor in sensibilities and angst into normalized deviant values for marketing) use narrative permission of The Hindu (presiding deities of neoliberal left and monopolized claims to represent) to value this book as “turning the socio-cultural geography upside down”, another gatekeeper of Indian writing excitedly proclaims this is “subversive, rebellious”, while another is shocked “you’ll feel that you are sitting amongst the dalits”…imagine these people! The book isn’t rebellious at all, nor subversive, or turning socio-cultural geography upside down. It is just reflecting lives of common people in common place…what is subversive is that Indian writing had no talent to observe nor express these with such skill and without any pretentions. The upside socio-cultural geography is now straightened for clear view. For some primitives there is a paradigm shift happening and feels like “sitting amongst dalit” (the audacity). What is happening is long awaited aesthetic correction from petty and amazing depth of mediocrity and lack of basic sensibilities and sincerity in Indian writing. Pompous self acclaimed embarrassment called Indian writer is shown clear picture of their own reality that they are incapacitated to see, fathom or express. Read RK Narayan (one of the very few Indian writers worthy of mention and comparison) and read Bama, the gap in the reality is an unbridgeable vacuum. You will doubt whether Narayan is speaking about the same society or is he “amongst charming aliens”? (Malgudi could very well be a fictitious village in Mars!). Bama is able to present Indian reality in confident flourish of her writing speaks of shift from controlled narration that pretentious Indian writing manipulated to present exotic India to western eloi. 

Each story in this book is a compelling vignette into everyday life in any village across India in its brutal presence that is skilfully narrated with care, absolutely no patronizing nor pontificating under the garb of fiction. Rarely have I come across Indian writing that conveys so much complexity in few sentences as it presents charming humans weaving threads of cruel world into tapestry of heartful emotions and nonchalance (rarely bravado), to proclaim with their humanity that which seeks to control is too insignificant in estimation of their rich world and daily concerns. Despite the overwhelming presence of discrimination and exploitation they seem to be busy to innately assert a better world by the very human presence thus unravelling the forces orchestrating brutal reality in their sheer disregard. “Stereotype” is one story that truly stands out, and can easily be one of the best in contemporary world literature (and the audacity to bracket this by mediocres into “dalit literature” under Indian writing, and jostling to “introduce”, hence represent), in thousand odd words it accomplishes something remarkable. Simmering silence is what makes these stories unique, there are thousands and thousands of unsaid words that fills the vacant space. It asks readers to evaluate honesty of their experience in the brutal world we live in.