Pop Talk

Kafka has been one of my most favourite writers ever since I stepped into adulthood. My life itself has been nothing short of Kafkaesque. The experiences have been nothing short of unreal, positive or negative, I have throughly enjoyed them. I have travelled beyond Kafka, and I suppose I have travelled beyond Lovecraft. It's funny how my interests have defined me. What you like defines you in some manner at least. I'm not ashamed to say that I was and I still am a romantic though romanticism is not really practical in this country when you have to run for survival all the time covering your ass with your hands to avoid getting sodomised by the cock of the providence. No shame in admitting that I liked 50 First Dates, The Notebook and The Proposal. No shame in admitting that I liked watching The Big Bang Theory, Brooklyn 99 and the American Pie movies. On the other hand I liked the Saw series too. I watched Saw when I was terribly sick, and even though the movie is basically torture porn, I like the idea on which it is based. I like Breaking Bad too. I don't like The Game of Thrones, though it portrays the absolute truth of this world which was and which always will be, and which got occluded from the vision of the common man due to technology. I like Harry Potter since childhood, and probably would always like it. I like The Matrix, which again is absolute truth portraying the reality of the reality we live in at present. In India, I like Hrishikesh Mukherjee's movies, Manmohan Desai's movies and David Dhawan's movies. There is not much in Indian pop culture beyond this. Late 90s and early 2000s were good for Indian music when we had Indipop, but indipop died and so did my interest in Indian music except classical music. I don't watch any movies anymore, Bollywood or Hollywood, except superhero movies. And I especially detest biographies and movies "based on real events". So what's entertainment for me at this point, books and superhero movies, and I collect the comic books I like. 90s was a great time for magazines and comics and I am glad that I experienced it before it died down. I'm also glad that I experienced the internet in 2000s before it got weaponised and also became a financial machine. I fulfill my need for sensuality from pop culture and books. That's the truth, and that's the way. Never fulfill your sensuality from real people is the only advice I would give. I would say the same for romanticism. It's safe. Though some people are privileged and this doesn't apply on them. It's an advice for the majority. I have my favourite authors, and Lovecraft and Kafka are at the top, Chekhov comes a close second. In Indian authors I like Premchand and Tagore. Indian English novelists post the 80s are all frauds without any exception. The Indian pop culture has been intentionally dumbed down to make people idiots. In late 2000s people wrote their feelings on blogs, it was when feelings still mattered. Now people sell their feelings and insanities in short form videos, and it's great, if you can monetize your madness why not, afterall money is the only currency of survival in this world and nothing is free in the world except air.