An open letter to those who laugh at The honourable Mr.Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya, the Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat and the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare India and Chemical and Fertilizers in the Government of India.
Dear posh people with impractically high expectations based on the founding fathers of this nation,
We are now a country of those who are so much like us that they are relatable, likeable, and more importantly, not seen as threatening to our ‘way of life’, whatever that is, by trying to cajole, scold, pull, push, and lead us into this silly vision of future they have in their over-educated heads. These people, our current leaders, are exactly like the ones who send and receive WhatsApp forwards in our family and alumni groups, spread conspiracy theories, talk gobbledygook about our army and intelligence services, claim to come from ancestors who had already discovered all that is (and will be in the future too) good, and fervently believe that ‘outsiders’ (meaning all those not like them) have been responsible for their condition today, even as they try and aver that their condition today is that of a proud citizen of a world-leading superpower, taking tremendous offence at any suggestion to the contrary, with zero cognitive dissonance and the confidence that could be used by M/s Dunning and Kruger as a case study.
Today, you laugh at Mr.Mandaviya’s tweets and try and show him up for how much of a misfit he is to be in any position of responsibility in the world’s largest democracy. But here’s the truth: he is today’s leader, not yesterday’s. He is not the best possible future that we could aspire to, and hence under his leadership, forge ahead towards. He is exactly like us. Like the majority. He is from the same material, the same soil, the same make, and of the same internal constitution. He could be you or me, or our uncle, or next-door neighbour. Indeed, he is us. There are more Indians on social media who post like him (yes, the ‘Hai deer, will you do fraandship?’ and the ‘sand bobs and vagene.’ kinds, the ones we cringe and turn up our noses at) than there are who post like they just walked out of an Oxford Union debating society. Mandaviya is no longer a representative of what our future holds. He is representative of where we stand today. Knee-deep in shit. And sinking.
Yours etc.,
![Mr Baba: 'Would you like to take off the backpack now that you've been downstairs for like 30 minutes?'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'I like it like this. You should try it. It's very comfortable.'
Mr Baba: [Pulling on his backpack] 'Hmmm, you're right. That's rather snug.'
Ms Kym-Kym: 'Twinning! Yay!'
#LuckiestManAlive #BearFamily](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416920031_3373151642830342_6696851954454537274_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=ZMLmjPdSAEUAX8nnJex&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfB0olvUVmnenPKd2wCllMDehg5gzDgAbc4BDsGLqIm6pA&oe=65BA4561)
![Kym: 'Mr Baba, can I tell you something wierd? You can actually get tired from doing nothing!!'
Me: 'It is called boredom.'
Kym: 'Noooo. I mean, like physically tired.'
Me: 'One can get tired and sleepy due to boredom. I remember reading about it somewhere. Let's find out.'
[Some Googling later]
Me: 'It says here that "A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications finds that a part of the brain that is associated with motivation and pleasure - the nucleus accumbens - also can produce sleep. The new findings may explain why we have the tendency to fall asleep in the absence of motivating stimuli, i.e., when bored." Isnt it interesting?'
Kym: 'I already knew that. Why do you need to research things we already know?'
Me: [Finding a subject worth talking about now]: ' Ah well, that's what we'll talk of tomorrow on your morning run. It's very interesting the way science is done and our understanding of the universe is expanded.'
Kym: 'Can we talk of unicorns instead?'
Me: 'Sure. How do you know they exist? That's an interesting question too that you can use the scientific method to answer.'
Kym: 'Do they have to exist for us to talk about them? We can just pretend they do for an hour and have fun.'
Me: [Laughing] 'Yes, sure. We can do that too.'
#BabaBabyConversations #BearFamily #KymAndI](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/416410840_383105434396466_2267910263456009774_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=LIozs445JFcAX_48wGC&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfDQ2qbb0yO_wUmLj_L0ZxF61eDdwlIN-vyrd8GZe_pBMQ&oe=65BAFA57)
