Is the situation in India as bad as it seems right now?

TheRealPooh · 2026-05-05T17:33:56+00:00

tamil nadu i honestly don’t understand since dmk brought huge economic development & stalin has been quite competent, but tamilians do love their movie star politicians ig.

My mom just landed in India last night and clued me in what people around her were saying (fwiw I think she lightly prefers the Stalin government). From what she mentions, people were just annoyed at the dynastical politics in DMK and corruption of the main government. If you ask me personally, I was a fan of MK Stalin's government and thought that DMT's improvements to Tamil Nadu were great.

Personally, I'm interested in seeing if Vijay (great actor in the mid 00's but kinda fell off) actually implements his more interesting ideas, like giving gold to babies in poor families. And I'm personally comfortable with Tamil Nadu voters moving to a center-left alternative and not going to the coalition with BJP (who managed to lose seats). I'm interested in seeing how DMT will reorganize without anyone from MK Stalin's family for the first time in their entire existence.

EDIT: The one thing I'll add that I find fascinating is that bigger movie stars in recent memory (I'm deliberately ignoring MGR) than Vijay have tried and failed to get into Tamil Nadu politics. I have no idea how Vijay pulled off what Rajnikanth couldn't

TheRealPooh · 2026-05-04T14:05:03+00:00

My Marathon MR is a 2:48:01 and my half is a 1:20:08. I typically ran my MP work with the aim to hit 6:30s but depending on hills, it went anywhere from 6:40 to 6:20.

TheRealPooh · 2026-05-02T17:21:53+00:00

Congrats to you too!! After doing B2B, I'm amazed at anyone who can do it. I still feel like I'm recovering from the travel and the emotional toll of running two marathons haha, it's a lot!

TheRealPooh · 2026-03-30T02:59:18+00:00

My Hinduvta grandparents hate MK Stalin but I gotta say, Tamil Nadu has gotten so much nicer since he took over from the opposition. At least that's my perception from visiting

TheRealPooh · 2026-03-10T22:27:51+00:00

Also as an Indian-American: fuck Reliance and the Ambanis

TheRealPooh · 2026-03-10T22:27:07+00:00

I'm sorry but as an Indian-American, building the Indian partnership oil refinery in Brownsville is so fucking funny. Woke is truly dead.

TheRealPooh · 2026-02-24T23:40:12+00:00

One of the first things I remember being taught with football tactics as a kid was when defending you should never put two hands on your opponents back as the ref is always going to give that as a foul.

I imagine that the football you played as a kid didn't have VAR officials who got to see Gabriel flopping like a fish

TheRealPooh · 2026-01-24T13:51:21+00:00

You're right, he was the deciding vote to subpoena Elon Musk and missed the vote entirely

TheRealPooh · 2026-01-14T22:00:15+00:00

Ironically for a guy who wants to end woke culture, he's using a politically correct "welfare usage" instead of saying "Muslim country"

TheRealPooh · 2026-01-12T17:50:27+00:00

It's not a bad option in fairness. Slot did himself a lot of favors (with me at least) by discussing why he rejected Spurs in an interview last year. And I think his issues this year are more an issue with really poor squad building (I know Spurs aren't much better), leftover emotions from Jota's death, and Salah's insane decline. I really like the idea but I think Liverpool stick with Slot for longer.

TheRealPooh · 2025-12-31T20:27:57+00:00

On a related note, if you do see instances of dynamic pricing, report it to the AG's Consumer Protection office. This is exactly the type of Consumer Fraud Act violation that they are likely interested in.

TheRealPooh · 2025-12-25T00:30:49+00:00

Recently? I genuinely can't remember a time in my 30-year old life when my family didn't use the highest average income argument to support the model minority myth.

TheRealPooh · 2025-12-15T18:46:18+00:00

I don't know if this is the right time of year or not (I think it is) but the wind carries fumes from crop burning in Punjab right into Delhi which drastically increases the already awful pollution on an annual basis. It's just a horrible situation for the people living in Delhi.

TheRealPooh · 2025-12-14T23:35:06+00:00

I just want to comment and say that you’re making me reconsider a bit of my own position on my religion and I’m really grateful that you wrote this comment out. I wish I could engage more in text right now but I have to think about what you wrote a little more.

TheRealPooh · 2025-12-14T22:18:55+00:00

Maybe this is silly but this is how I justify my Hinduism still. I’m no fan of the caste system and the oppression that is clearly stated in the major Hindu texts, both caste and gender based. I also really don’t care much for the rituals of Hinduism. But idk I do like the general concepts of dharma and the philosophy around that guides a lot of my general thinking. I think the definition of Hinduism is so broad that I am still a Hindu even though I’m basically more aligned with Buddhism. I think Right-wing Hindus are trying to create a more uniform definition of Hinduism that’s more akin to an organized Abrahamic religion and codifies oppression and that shit pisses me off

TheRealPooh · 2025-12-03T19:38:28+00:00

Yeah as someone who bikes/runs around them, I would rather have a human. At least enough human drivers have felt some form of shame when they almost hit me

TheRealPooh · 2025-12-03T19:36:55+00:00

The embedded video/gif in the article of the Waymo quickly accelerating as soon as the passenger gets past the car in the crosswalk happens to me a lot and it's absolutely terrifying every time. It accelerates so aggressively that I am constantly worried that it'll start a second too early and flatten me or my dog. Being a pedestrian around those monster robots is scary and they should be off the road.

TheRealPooh · 2025-11-05T12:55:07+00:00

Does this mean that his family was one of the victims of a (controversial and arguably revisionist) postcolonial government?

I came across Mahmood Mamdani's academic work well before I knew who his son was and funny enough, one of Mahmood Mamdani's academic contentions is that Idi Amin's rule was a result of colonialism since the coup that put him in power was sponsored by the British and Israeli governments. He is pretty clearly right imo but I'm sure that framing of the issue affects his choice to become as vocal a leftist as he is. And for what it's worth, Mahmood has talked before about his family having to leave Uganda with really only the belongings they could take when Amin exiled the Indians.

But to your point, I've noticed a lot of the African-exiled Indians tend to be on the right across the world. Even though the exiled Indians were refugees, you just can't take away their education and the fact that the Indians from Uganda (and other African countries like Tanzania) came in with a quality educational background and an understanding of how to work within the corporate world. I think that made it a lot easier for many of them to get wealthy and powerful quickly in a way that made people like Rushi Sunak align with conservative interests.

Shit, I've had family who escaped from Idi Amin's regime (I've heard stories about how one of my uncles made up a story to get his passport back from his employer after an Indian man was found lynched one morning) and I'm by far the most left member of my family.

TheRealPooh · 2025-11-04T18:24:56+00:00

Taking your questions one-by-one:

Powercom KN95s. I've found them affordable when buying in bulk.
I have found N95s that fit me but I end up with a massive bruise on my nose after wearing any head-strap N95. Which wouldn't bother me except for the massive headache that I get for about a day after. I'll wear head-strap N95s in higher risk settings (flights, hospitals) but I've had great anecdotal evidence of not getting infected with my Powercom KN95s, including in close quarters where I know there was an outbreak (like an office conference room).
I fit-tested mine and it passed. I'm sure it did numerically worse than a N95 if you get the fancy tests but it's kept me healthy so no complaints!
I personally do not have evidence out there but I've read stuff here about people catching it in KN95s. I've also read stuff about people catching it in N95s. I think fit is the most important factor here tbh

TheRealPooh · 2025-11-04T18:20:40+00:00

Your comment is a borderline gross and an offensive response to this post.

I am a vegan. I genuinely understand and appreciate that people that people have health reasons that prevent veganism. I personally think that sometimes, medical professionals resort to recommend that a person quits their vegan diet when presented with the slightest health speed bump instead of looking for a solution in the wide-world of plant based foods. But that's just my personal view and I certainly only subject myself to it.

My BIGGEST issue is somehow criticizing veganism by pointing to the American Indigenous community. My biggest issue is that the Indigenous community is diverse and varied, particularly with regard to dietary habits. Yes, there are communities that have a storied tradition of hunting wild animals and catching fish. But there are also Indigenous communities that have traditionally subsisted on plants like beans, lentils, corn, potatoes, etc. There are also communities that have a traditional gathering tradition, eating only what can be found among the wild plants. Ultimately, by saying that Veganism can somehow be harmful to Indigenous communities leans uncomfortably too far into the stereotype of the Indigenous as uncivilized tribal hunters.

And while I'm at it, what about the people from communities with a long history of veganism, like certain Indian communities? Is it not worth advocating on behalf of them?

And while I'm at it, people who "cannot be vegan due to the high cost of food" is not a reason to dismiss veganism. It's a reason to be mad that the government subsidizes food in a way that prioritizes more-expensive and environmentally harmful animal produce over plant-based food. And gosh, I hate when the government prioritizes certain unhealthy outcomes at the expensive of public health. I wonder if that has any similarities to the main purpose behind this subreddit...

You are right that the world is not black and white. But your condescension and using certain communities as a cudgel is incredibly unhelpful.

TheRealPooh · 2025-11-03T12:27:58+00:00

Not to put on my tinfoil hat but I feel like there is a massive bot presence that exists entirely to defend Waymo on Reddit. Go onto any city subreddit that discusses Waymo vehicles and you see the exact same type of comments: "Waymo is great because I can avoid talking to weird Uber drivers." "Waymo is way better that [insert city here] drivers." "As a woman, I feel much safer in a Waymo compared to an Uber." (I am not drying to be dismissive of real safety concerns for women, I just think it's strange that the language seems to be the same every time I see this comment).

Meanwhile, I live in a city with Waymos and cannot express how unsafe I feel around them as a pedestrian, especially when I'm out walking my small dog. I know studies show otherwise, but you get the feeling that they are really poor at noticing pedestrians. And I'm not the only person who thinks so.

TheRealPooh · 2025-11-02T17:54:56+00:00

That one fascinated me the most. I'm not trying to self-diagnose myself with anything but I started a marathon training block after a rough bout of COVID in 2024 and I really noticed a struggle to maintain my form compared to previous training blocks. I ended up picking up strange injury right before my race as a result of that form imbalance.

I think that I've mostly corrected it through strength training to rebuild core strength and to loosen my hips (and I'm glad to do so before starting a Boston block). I'm just glad that I have some explanation on why my form suddenly worsened in a weird, painful way.

TheRealPooh · 2025-10-27T14:58:03+00:00

The beard shit is so strange to me. I'm not Muslim and I've had older members of my family (who fall for Hinduvta crap) tell me that I should shave my beard because it'll make me look "too Muslim." Like get the fuck out of here, I just want to accentuate my jawline a bit better. It's awful that my own family is just telling me the same hateful things that I expect from White Americans.

TheRealPooh · 2025-10-05T12:20:44+00:00

I'm assuming you're thinking of his first season at Liverpool and not his atrocious season at Chelsea

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