Review: The Housemaid is Watching

The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quite a difference pacing and time skip from the other two books of the trilogy. Millie is now a proper housewife and mother of two and the threat level of the book did went down. I feel the author have improved her prose from the first book, especially in the first half of the book. It seems more polished and finished now. To me, The Housemaid's Secret was bit of a letter down from the first one, but this book surpasses both of them. Middle book syndrome in action, perhaps.

lso, the book can be read without reading the earlier books as a standalone. While it is indeed the same formaltic thriller as the first two, Millie while being the first person narrator for almost 80% of the book is not really a doer. In style and structure the book is closer to the orginal book.

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Review: Ras Bhang

Ras Bhang by Akshaya Bahibala
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


ये किताब बहुत कुछ करना चाहती है, लेकिन अंततः असफल रहती है। आत्मकथा, यात्रावृत, सामाजिक चित्रण एवम् ऐतिहासिक-चिकित्सीय-वैधानिक लेख, सब कुछ समेटने का प्रयास है। इसमें मेरी माने तो केवल पहला ही हिस्सा रोचक था। शोध उतना कुछ खास नहीं है। पढ़ने के बाद ये भी प्रतीत होता है की लेखक उड़िया होने के बावजूद भी काफ़ी हद तक स्थानीय प्रथाओं स्थानीय परंपराओं को एक बाहरी दृष्टि से देखता है। मैंने सोचा था ये मूल रूप से उड़िया में लिखी किताब का अनुवाद है। लेकिन असल में Bhang Journeys: Stories, Histories, Trips and Travels मूल किताब है जिसका अनुवाद Vyalok
ने किया है। भाषा बहुत सहज है और मालूम नहीं होता कि इसका अनुवाद अंग्रेज़ी से हुआ है । Abhishek Shukla की Deep Work और M.L. Parihar की Jaat-Paant Ka Vinash (जात-पांत का विनाश) दोनों में साफ़ पता चलता है, पर यहाँ ऐसा नहीं है। यद्यपि किताब उतनी खास नहीं है, फिर भी आधुनिक हिंदी अनुवाद के एक नमूने के तौर पर इसके लिए विशेष स्थान है।




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Fifteen Minutes from China Gate: Colonial Memory and Cold War Mythmaking

 This motion picture is dedicated to France. More than 300 years ago, French missionaries were sent to Indochina to teach love of God and love of fellow man. Gradually, French influence took shape in the Vietnamese land. Despite many hardships, they advanced their way of living, and the thriving nation became the rice bowl of Asia. Vast riches were developed under French guidance until 1941, when Japanese troops moved in and made the rice bowl red with the blood of the defenders. In 1945, when the Japanese surrender was announced, a Moscow-trained Indo-Chinese revolutionist who called himself Ho Chi Minh began the drive to make his own country another target for Chinese Communists. Headquartered in the North, he called the new party Viet Minh. With the end of the Korean War, France was left alone to hold the hottest front in the world and became the barrier between communism and the rape of Asia. Members of the Foreign Legion imported from North Africa fought valiantly under the French flag, but the ammunition pipeline from Moscow could not be found. Bombs and shells made in Russia were stocked in secret tunnels along the mountain range of the China Gate. This arsenal was winning the war for the Communists.

These are the opening lines of the narrator in China Gate (1957). This is not an ironic suffering from white man syndrome narrator, but an actual dedication of the film. Truth be told, I had no intention of watching western pro imperial cold war propaganda a day before my NBHM interview (and in case I only watched the first 15 minutes, for DD keeps scolding me to go back to studying for the interview, she is out on lunch when I am typing it), I was trying to watch the Bollywood China Gate (1998)but me being me made an mistake and this happened. Not the first time I made such a mistake, it happened before with The Flight of the Emperor. 

Whatever the circumstances, the black and white film has declared the White colonists to be perfectly white in their actions in Viet Nam. It was perhaps not enough, the director Samuel Fuller writes in his book, which WP paraphrases as: 

Before China Gate was to be released, Fuller received a call from Romain Gary, the French Consul-General in Los Angeles, inviting him to lunch. Gary said the film's prologue was too harsh towards France and asked Fuller to change it. Fuller refused, but the two became firm friends with similar interests. The film was never released in France. 

Even this level of praising France for allegedly advancing the locals' "way of living " is seen as too harsh. I don't know how to make it seem better to colonial sympathisers, but they did think it had to be. This is the level of propaganda in the 'first world' just a few decades before, and people will call Dhurandhar 2 as propaganda. 

In the little I watched, one thing is clear, the filmmakers are not racists. In fact, academic consensus seems to be these types of war films actually were pioneers in racial unity by pitting Americans as a whole against 'the enemy' or 'the Reds'. In fact, a paper goes on to say:

One thing that did adhere to Fuller’s career in its entirety was a persistent interest in race and racism in the US. Issues of racism against Asians, Asian-Americans and African Americans are brought to the fore in films like The Steel Helmet, China Gate, The Crimson Kimono, Shock Corridor and White Dog, not to mention his script for The Klansman (1974); against Native Americans in Run of the Arrow; and against Jews in the invocations of the Holocaust in Verboten! and The Big Red One.

Still, I found one of the opening scenes to be a bit problematic.  The narrator notes the lack of food in a southern hamlet isolated by the freedom fighters of the Viet Cong. All animals are being eaten up, save for a puppy named Pierre, hidden by a boy we later learn is a main character. 

A man finds the puppy sticking out from the child's clothes and chases him with a knife with hunger in his eyes. Whether it was an attack on dog meat consumption of the Vietnamese people or just a way to show the extent of hunger that an animal so dear to American sensibilities can be eaten is not clear. But I will have to lean towards the latter now that I have read the academic consensus. It will make sense, as The Making of Global International Relations: Origins and Evolution of IR at its Centenary notes that WW2 was just a victory against so-called scientific racism. Another example, 'his only cross to bear is that of eyes' referring to a part Asian child, is maybe just dated language rather than racism, when the film actually does challenge the discrimination against asian americans, as a review notes about the mother of the child:

Lucky Legs occupies the center of Fuller’s preposterous sex fantasy / melodramatic tangle. She has a son by (who else) Sgt. Brock, the ex-husband who abandoned her the moment he saw his child’s Chinese features. Brock is not bothered that Lucky Legs (this is really buried in context) is a prostitute and party girl — but gets freaked out by the thought of having a bi-racial child.

Clearly at attack on the still persisting double game of American morality. Anyway, writing more would not be fair game at this stage, and I will return and complete the review later after finishing.

On Nuclear Apartheid, First Reactions on Iran vs US and Co and a conditional Iran Zindabad

 I was in a state between panicking over the Operator Theory exam tommorow and imposter-syndroming cum fleeing over CSIR NET and NBHM results this morning when I came across this tweet:

BREAKING: State of Israel launches a preemptive strike against Iran; Defense Minister Israel Katz declares a special and immediate state of emergency across the entire country. - Statement

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) February 28, 2026

This no name handle broke to me the news of war which have since spiraled into a full regional conflict with Uncle Sam involved. Modi just came back from Israel when they stokes Iran. Deals would have been made and given the lack of commendations yet, I assume it have been a green light from our side. I know that Saam, daam, dand, bhed all are fair and I do congratulate the Indian government for painting that. Still this makes my blood boil. Wrap and wrap it all you want in layers of protests and civil rights, the main issue is the imposition of the Nuclear Appertheid. The haves have decided Revolutionary Iran is no good and must be denied the benefit for such power. India have espaced from the clutches of this Appertheid but have never supported others in doing so. Realism over idealism is my personal motto too, the government have no business standing for a nuclear Iran, but I as a private citizen can. All this comes in background of this tweet from Oman's monsiter today itself:

I met Vice President JD Vance today and shared details of the ongoing negotiation between the United States and Iran and the progress achieved so far. I am grateful for their engagement and look forward to further and decisive progress in the coming days. Peace is within our… pic.twitter.com/fMHxWV0jgl

— Badr Albusaidi - بدر البوسعيدي (@badralbusaidi) February 27, 2026

Never trust the western governments. In a rare moment UK seems to be keeping it's promise of partial (it will still be on a 99 year lease) decolonozation of Chagos Islands this time. Despite having a bit of complicated relationship with Indian Goverment, Ro Khanna have taken a principled stand.

Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk. Congress must convene on Monday to vote on @RepThomasMassie & my WPR to stop this. Every member of Congress should go on record this weekend on how they will vote. pic.twitter.com/tlRi3Vz849

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) February 28, 2026

Where it is purely on technical US Congress vs Presidential Powers debate or more fundemental US have no business here remains to be seen. I haven't seen any Pro Iran stance by any government save for Russia, which have been driven into a Pariah status itself and is ironically doing much worse to Ukraine than is happening in Iran. The next closest seems to be the Indonesian offer of mediation. The grifter and self styled Shah in exile is once again back to his grifting. One may, and I most certainly, have problems with domestic policies of Iran but this is not way to treat of sovereign nation. This is just the regular bullying of Global South. So just for today, Iran Zindabad. One can do nothing, I will just plug in Iran's powerful statment knowing that the worst case that Irani administration is replaced by some western puppet is not really a fantasy at this point. 

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Regarding the military aggression by the Zionist regime and the United States against #Iran

Heroic and noble people of Iran,
Iranian compatriots,

Our sacred and beloved homeland, proud and…

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) February 28, 2026

सब सेट है, पर ठीक नहीं — पंद्रहवीं रैंक का इवान्

 हाल में ही CSIR Net का Result निकला। देश भर में रैंक 15 है। ख्याल था कि लेक्चरशिप का कटऑफ होगा, और असल में 15 रैंक है।

न उम्मीद थी, न कुछ और। कैसे हुआ, ये भी पता नहीं। यह तीसरी दफ़ा थी जब इस इम्तिहान का फॉर्म भरा था। पहली बार 2024 में था। उस समय तो पोस्टपोन हो गया था, NTA में चीटिंग वगैरह का कुछ मामला था। उस समय थोड़ी-बहुत तैयारी की थी, लेकिन सेंटर नोएडा में आया था। जब एग्जाम हुआ तो मेरी छुट्टियाँ खत्म हो गई थीं और मैं इधर ओडिशा में था, इसलिए दे नहीं पाया। उसके बाद दिसंबर 2024 में बाय-लॉज़ में कुछ बदलाव किए गए, जिससे हम लोग एलिजिबल ही नहीं रहे, तो फिर नहीं दे पाया। फिर गर्मी 2025 में दिया, कुछ नंबर से लेक्चरशिप रह गई। फिर अब दिया। तैयारी तो नहीं की थी। सिलेबस का तो अभी तक मुझे ज्ञान ही नहीं हुआ है। हफ्ते भर पहले तक CAM में था, फिर आकर एक शादी में गया था। कब ही पढ़ता? और वैसे भी न पढ़ने की इच्छा थी, न इस बार देने की। DD ने करीब-करीब ब्लैकमेल करके ही फॉर्म भरवाया था।  लोग मानते नहीं, सोचते हैं अकड़ रहा हूँ। मुँह पर तो कोई बोल नहीं पाता, लेकिन सोचना लाज़िमी है। अब खैर, ये कि DJ Khalid का Suffering From Success है। मज़ाक अपनी जगह, सच में मैंने कुछ नहीं पढ़ा था। हाँ, 3 दिन, और सिर्फ 3 दिन, DD के साथ पेपर बनाने बैठा था, लेकिन फिर मनमुटाव से, समय मैच न होने से और ऐसे ही कुछ मन की बातों से वह टूट गया। उसका नहीं हुआ। 0.4 से लेक्चरशिप रह गई। किस्मत की ही तो बात है, बहुत हद तक। कभी-कभी लगता है कि Fresh Off the Boat खत्म कर दिया, बहुत अच्छा लगा, अब किताब भी पढ़ूँगा कि मैं एडी हुआंग जैसा हूँ। उसके SAT में ऐसे ही बिना पढ़े 1600 आ गए थे। बचपन से ही वह स्कूल में भी बिना पढ़े कर लेता था। उसका सबसे छोटा भाई इवान् इस बात से चिढ़ जाता है कि उसके लिए कितना आसान है और जीवन कितना अन्यायपूर्ण है। डायलॉग ही देख लेते हैं:

Evan: You're both naturals, and I'm a sucker who has to put in the work.
Eddie: Dude, you're a straight-A student. Who cares?
Evan: I care because I have to earn it. You guys just wake up and it's there.

मेरे जीवन में कोई इवान् नहीं, तो मेरी अंतर्चेतना ही इवान् बन बैठी है। मुझसे पूछती रहती है। पाठक सोचेगा कि क्यों बड़बड़ा रहा है ये, इसका तो सब सेट है। हाँ, शायद सेट है, लेकिन सही नहीं लग रहा। शायद इसी भावना को लेकर पाश्चात्य में “प्रिविलेज” को लेकर इतना खेल होता है। अभी Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (यह भी अच्छा था, पूरा देख लिया, मानसिक स्वास्थ्य का संदेश देने वाला सिटकॉम है) देख रहा था। उसमें भी एक एपिसोड में नाथेनियल प्लिम्प्टन तृतीय को ऐसी चीज़ का एहसास होता है और फिर वह इस बारे में बोलता ही जाता है। क्या मैं भी उसकी तरह हूँ?

लेकिन सब कुछ भी तो नहीं मिला। श्यामा प्रसाद मुखर्जी फ़ेलोशिप लगती है कि मिल सकती है, लेकिन 15 रैंक आकर भी नहीं मिलेगी, क्योंकि जनरल में पहले 14 ही लोगों को बुलाते हैं। चलो, सब तो सही नहीं है। और हाँ, एग्ज़ाम आ रहे हैं। पहले भी लिखा था, जिसमें ऑपरेटर थ्योरी का कुछ अता-पता नहीं था, आज भी स्थिति बदली नहीं है।

 बरहामपुर वाले में चयन हो गया वैसे। GATE में आजकल AI से उत्तर मिला सकते हैं, उसका भी देखकर लग रहा है कि शायद 100 के अंदर रैंक आएगी। और लोगों की मानें तो 25 के अंदर। पहले एक बार निकल गया था, 616 रैंक। लेकिन मुझे एहसास ही नहीं कि यह अच्छा है या खराब। इन सबकी सभ्यता से अलग ही हो गया हूँ मैं। इंजीनियरिंग करनी तो थी नहीं मुझे, लेकिन JEE कल्चर से बहुत हद तक जुड़ा हुआ था मैं। Kota Factory
 भी देखी थी। पहला शो था मेरा, और उस समय सोचा था यही है। 

खैर, ये बात तो पुरानी है। फिलहाल इस हफ्ते के एग्ज़ाम के लिए ही पढ़ना चाहिए मुझे, कम से कम कोशिश तो करें।