December 4—Recommended Sunday Reading

The elusive RBI Governor

“When Urjit Ravinder Patel travels to Delhi on work, his assistants at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) headquarters in Mumbai keep three sets of tickets ready for him. This enables him to travel quietly, without anyone getting to know about his plans, an RBI insider says.” In The Telegraph.

All’s well when it’s hell

There's this dialogue when someone asks "Optimism, what is that?" "Alas!" replied Candide, "it is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is well when it is hell."

Frankly, many of us feel we are in hell in our country ever since we were all parted from our own money and those with little money from their wages and jobs. My mind, I admit, is in overdrive as I stay awake figuring out how to deal with what is being called "the new normal" (sounds like a cute little departure from our otherwise dull lives!). In The Tribune.

Bedi on BCCI, cricket and Arun Jaitley

He leans forward and raises his voice. "BCCI kisi ke baap ka dhanda nahi hai. It is not a private enterprise. They are accountable to the people of this country," he thunders. "Tailor masters, insurance agents and stationery shop owners have managed it over the years and made crores of rupees. There has been zero accountability."

"Quote me on this," he says, wagging a finger. "Arun Jaitley once said that it was easy to deal with cricketers. He said, 'Give some cricketers more money than the others and they will never be united.'" In The Telegraph.

US Muslims in the time of Trump

“Stop indulging in a ‘pity party’ and do for heaven’s sake stop using the religion card!” This blunt talk comes from a woman who has worked very hard to weather the racial storm for 40 years and come out ‘laughing all the way to the bank.’ Rima Ahmad is founder and owner of a successful company that manufactures healthcare products in South Carolina. “When someone chooses to call America their home, and it is not their country of birth, it is by choice. No one forces anyone to move to America. As Americans, we take pride in meritocracy, and welcome others, as long as all play by the rules, and try to blend in without wearing their ethnicity or religion on their sleeves. America did not come into existence as a religious state, but a secular one, unlike Pakistan, where sectarianism raises its ugly head … Heck, we can’t even agree with someone who is not our own sect within Islam!” In Dawn.

Why Cubans remain Fidelistas

“Over the years, we have faced many difficulties and our country has decayed in many ways. But we can’t say that it is Fidel’s fault. Some of those who surrounded him thought only of themselves. That’s not revolutionary. They had a lot and they wanted more.” She would rather count her blessings—a brick house in the capital with electricity, running water and a television, as well as free healthcare and education for her five children and 11 grandchildren. Without Castro, she believes it would have been impossible to live to this standard: “His greatest legacy is in education, health and equality. We—the blacks—were discriminated against by the whites. Today we are all treated the same.” In The Guardian.