jaspwhispers

you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.

first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.

now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:

in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.

and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.

and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.

it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:

• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.

• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.

• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.

• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.

• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.

• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.

and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.

what i'm asking:

if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.

if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.

india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.

we can still save her. but only loudly.

apparently the murder happened in 2023 after doing some research but the murderer has been found not guilty.

Rowling believes that she has a right to commit sexual violence against women she believes don't deserve rights or safety.

Her response to receiving criticism on posting said upskirt was to essentially argue that the trans woman had it coming and as was basically asking for it because of what she was wearing.

[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'JK Rowling posted upskirt photos of a woman on Twitter' to Cas 'I love you'. /End ID]

No one doing this should be allowed to call themselves a feminist.

This is a pretty major letdown, ngl.

That said, I've been getting a lot of questions from friends asking for advice on dealing with this bullshit, especially if you're somewhere where air-conditioning isn't widely available.

1. Electrolytes. Everyone tells you to hydrate, but if you're sweating balls and flushing yourself out with fluid, you're not just losing water, you're losing salt. You don't need to buy those fancy liquid IV packs if you don't want to; I literally just dump a little pack of salt in my water bottle every now and then because I stole a shit ton of them from my school's café last semester because they were free. This is to keep yourself from passing out. Sports drinks or salty foods work too.

2. Get yourself a fan. Any sort of handheld thing that can blow air on you. Don't use your own hand as a fan because you'll exert more energy than it's worth.

3. If you are immediately feeling hot, you are going to try and get ice, a damp cloth, or something vaguely cool, and you are going to press it to the inside of your wrists, the back of your neck, and behind/under your ears. The veins/arteries are really close to the skin here which I believe is most of why this works so well for cooling you down.

4. Pressure points aside, just pour water on yourself. If you need to regulate your body temp, do so. No one is judging you, I promise.

5. SUNSCREEN PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THE SUN IS A DEADLY LAZY

6. Get yourself a UV / SPF shirt. Something lightweight that will shield you, in a material that will cool you down. You can also get it all the way wet and then wear it, if that's viable for you. You won't be walking around dripping—it'll just cool you down significantly.

7. I've seen some people talk about putting clothes, especially things like socks, underwear, and hijabs into the freezer overnight? Have never done this personally but fair enough. Same principle as above.

8. If you feel yourself getting hot, say something early. Heat stroke is no joke. "A cold baby dies, a hot baby dies" applies to adults too.

9. If it's dry heat, stay in the shade. If it's the humidity getting you, godspeed.

10. Don't open the windows when it's hot. This is a trap. You think the air flow will help. But the air is hot and not your friend. Windows stay closed unless you specifically want the outside air coming in.

Hey everyone,

It's Your Local Bardic entity, Gallus Rostromengalus of Bread Jesus and other Weird Tumblr Story Fame.

Despite my best efforts to mitigate mt Terrible English Dental DNA, today two of my teeth broke.

I don't even have a fun story about this, it's literally terrible genetics and stress-grinding my teeth in my sleep.

I just got back from emergency surgery to get the pieces pulled and the hole in my jaw closed so I don't get an infection, but a second reconstruction surgery to give me a bone graft and dental implants will be needed so I can actually chew and use my mouth for it's intended purposes.

I do not currently have dental insurance. I haven't talked about it here much, but my husband was unemployed after getting laid off for almost all of last year. He has a job again, but it pays like 2/3rds of his previous one and the benefits are crap. Like no dental insurance until he's worked there at least a year.

So I'm on the hook for the full cost of Today's emergency surgery, Medication, and the necessary follow-up reconstruction, which my dentist estimates will cost between $5000-$7000. Our dentist has given us every discount she can and we have a payment plan, but losing half our household income has left us with no savings and credit cards at their limits. Even though I only need to come up with $500 this month to go ahead with the reconstructive surgery, I do not have any money to spare. It will also be VASTLY cheaper overall to pay for everything up front rather than pay interest over the months with the payment plan, but literally anything will help me right now.

Link To My GoFundMe

Link To My Ko-Fi

Thank you all so much, Gallus

Holy Shit Guys. Thank you so much. Between this and the Donations I've received on Ko-fi, I am VERY set to cover the costs of this fiasco. I cannot overstate how much of a relief it is to have this taken care of, and how grateful I am for everyone who donated, shared, and helped me trouble shoot this. I am unbelievably blessed to be a part of this community. And as a member of this community, I need to pass this forward: If you're still in a charitable spirit, a friend of mine is facing some pretty dire housing issues and could really, really use your help as well.

Over 90% of parents of visibly intersex children opt for cosmetic surgery on their infants.

The ones that don't experience medical violence then, likely experience it as a teenager.

I didn't.

I am very rare in that I did not experience medical violence.

Why? Because I learned what intersexuality was as a young age, and I actively fought against what doctors wanted to do to me. All the way down to legal research on what medical care minors can be forced into. I remember walking into that doctor's appointment with the state law written down that proved that if I did not consent they could not do surgery.

I'm gonna be honest