Patel's Polemics

How media brands a fact based feature film as jingoism, while remaining blissfully oblivious to real propaganda based on lies and manufactured guilt. Having finished watching Netflix's new sensation in Indian — Sacred Games — the other day, I was in search for something less intense to unwind on a lazy weekend, when I chanced upon the thumbnail for John Abraham's Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran. The movie, to this writer, appeared to be the latest in a list of movies inspired from the most up-voted answers on Quora to the questions like “What are some of the most fascinating stories about India?”. Any Quora visitor would attest that the platform introduced thousands to the Dashrath Manjhis and Neerja Bhanots before their inspiring lives were lapped up by Bollywood and turned into (well-made) blockbusters. It was Quora where people first read about the struggles of field hockey star Sandeep Singh, felt proud about the Indian evacuation from Kuwait, or read about the ...

Its nothing short of tragic when someone used to Delhi smog finds breathing in Ladakh difficult. Cricket at 3,000m above the sea level But this tragedy befalls the bikers on Leh's roads frequently — when the aging diesel Boleros and built to last (instead of being environmentally frugal) army trucks, in their struggle to mount the inclines of the hill roads, fire plumes of tarry smoke right at the bikers already struggling for breath in the rarified air. Thus, the last leg of ride to the historic Alchi Gompa felt doubly refreshing as I left behind the truck-riddled NH-1 which continued to meander along the Indus river towards Kargil on its way to Srinagar, and turned left to cross the iron bridge that connected the highway to the ancient village of Alchi. The Indus as seen from the bridge. NH-1 visible on the right. The mountains on either sides of the bridge on the Indus funneled the wind into gushes as strong as the violent river underneath. The helmet's st...

Explaining the recent announcement of setting up regional jihadi development centers in India, al-Zawahiri, CEO – al-Qaeda, cited intense global competition as the primary motivator behind the tactical shift. “We have to evolve our business model and hiring strategy in order to stay relevant in a dynamic market. We can’t forever rely on a brand name and cult image of our brand ambassador Osama ji alone,” he is reported to have told the industry analysts who have been surprised at this sudden change in the strategy by the erstwhile iconic exporter of terrorism, which has failed to find media space for any of its recent endeavors. This downturn in the exports of the company’s brand of terror was accompanied by waning confidence in the Wahhabi investor community, which has seen the company’s valuations tumble as it faces difficulties in raising fresh funds. Experts also attribute Zawahiri’s move to India to the meteoric rise of its rival spin-off – ISIS, on the back of a ...