the expectation of dismay

12.05.2026

A: What do you think it is that your readers expect of you?

S: They expect dismay, despair, desolation, derision…

A: Out and out negativity. Cynicism.

S: If they want to read about a fool’s happiness, a dupe’s joy, then they should go to the mainstream media.

A: Why can’t you write something that they actually want to read?

S: I’m not going to pander to them. I am the lone voice that actually says the truth. I say it like it is.

A: They are never going to accept your low view of humanity.

S: Yet that is the reality. You know this moment in the world is atrocious? All of the old racism has returned with a vengeance. Fascism, and what is worse, mediocrity, has overtaken the world. There is the climate change disaster which they are hardly doing anything to avert. Then, on top of that there are all the wars, the dismal job market, the growing isolation and loneliness in society, the decline of manners and culture in this supposed civilisation….

A: You always focus on the negative.

S: What is there that is so positive?

A: Be thankful for the good in your life. The loving parents and friends that support you. The fact that you are working and contributing to art and culture. The fact that you can volunteer where you like because you have the health and the talent to do it. The fact that you can follow your creativity. The technology that aids you in this life. Above all, be grateful for the fact that you have that fine mind, that discipline, that amazing body and stamina and that relentless drive and ambition that allows you to perform at the highest levels. That privilege that you were born into a rich country so that they can’t hold you in contempt because you come from the Untouchables and the Dalits. That privilege that you went to one of the top universities in the world and that you have five degrees as well as a doctorate, that you have been published as an academic writer. You crow on about how special you are. Be grateful for the gifts that have been bestowed upon you.

S: There is a man that is a god. And this god spits upon this cheap and mean world and everything in it. Because this man is a god, he should hold the highest honour. And they have not given it to him.

A: Do not let this sourness dictate all of your thought.

S: Why not? Achilles is the greatest and he is sour. The honour belongs to me.

A: Why do you hold onto your humiliation?

S: Because the humiliation is the seed for the storming tree of vengeance.

A: This ego and this revenge, they will crush it. There are more of them than there are of you. You are all alone against them.

S: It is not true. I am the dream of The Oppressed. I am the dream of The Mother. Behind me there stand the minds and voices of all of India, six thousand years of us. I come from Punjab which has fought against every oppressor and won. We are the men that all of India look up to as warriors, as The Tiger. This criticism of this society which they cannot bear, this will be how they look at this civilisation in history. It will be our view that prevails. We are the past, the present and the future. History is written by the victors and we are the victors. We never lose. That is why we are six thousand years old. Nobody can stand against us. No one. Certainly not the non men.