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However sometimes, I will cover it up as a precaution. Today, that choice was validated.

I had done my shirt up to the top before getting a taxi with friends who had joked about me being cold - it's like 28+ celcius (82+ Fahrenheit) - and I'd laughed it off.

Anyway, there's three of us in the taxi, I'm in the front with driver, and he starts talking about how the "Jews killed JFK". There's a beat of silence as the three of us process what we've just heard and then he says, "I guess I should say The Zionists" with a chuckle.

I go into damage control mode as there's 15 minutes left of this journey and I Do Not want to be having this conversation.

And then he starts talking about how everyone thinks the president runs America but actually it's Israel and they're in control of everything. And like the three of us are fighting for our lives to chance the conversation topic for the final few minutes of the drive.

Anyway, we get to our destination and he drives off and I basically turn to the others as I unbutton the top of my shirt and am like, "that is why I cover up. You never know who you're gonna get a taxi with."

Standing in his laboratory, Harvard professor Sean Eddy gazes at a row of vacant work stations. More than a year ago, this lab was filled with over a dozen researchers. On a given day they might be working independently on analyzing genomic sequencing or gathered around the group table, drinking coffee and helping each other troubleshoot questions about genomic data from different species.

Now, after his funding was terminated under the Trump administration, the computer screens are gone and the room is silent. He's one of the last people left.

he breaks a windshield and carries the clone driver out of a destroyed tank on ryloth

“get the injured back, I’m gonna clear the road!” (– which is, you know, just the most dangerous job since there’s a cannon aiming at him)

his first question after getting out of that mess is “how many men did we lose?”

he Force-throws two troopers to safety when the plasma bridge they’re on deactivate, which almost results in him falling to his death (except he’s too awesome)

he leaves Anakin Skywalker in charge of negotiating a treaty to go look for survivors in the giant crater their troops fell in

he kneels down next to an injured clone and talks to him softly when they’re looking for the Zillo beast on Malastare

he pulls the dead trooper out of his burning quarters when Boba plays terrorist, cradling the clone and urgently asking if he’s alright

he’s ready to go face Aurra Sing and Boba to protect the hostages when he’s still in Medbay and too injured to go anywhere according to Plo

he accepts Cody and Rex’s plans, no questions asked, as well as Echo’s when Echo could very well be compromised – because that’s how much he trusts them all

(even when at this point he’s known for months that the clone army was created by Dooku)

he evacuates his men to deal with a giant freaking bomb all by himself

“get the men out of here!” “don’t worry about me, Captain – just get your men out of there!”

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.

However, at the end of the Wizard of Oz, the Wizard doesn’t give the tin man a heart. He doesn’t go around looking at life with the all-new wonder of emotion. The Wizard gives him a heart-shaped knickknack and tells him he already had a heart the whole time!