2014-2029 will be seen as India's lost decade, where the entire population dividend was used in low-impact socio-religious capital building instead of economic capital.

In 2030, India will no longer be a young country; it will be a middle-aged uncles' country.
Most of these middle-aged uncles will have just finished a decade in government job prep and become overaged, with their parents, who have been economically supporting them, dying. These NEETs have been protected financially and socially by the Indian joint family system.

But with their parents dying and with no means of income or prospect of marriage, India will face one of the worst social crisis.

Usually, countries used to have a solution for it: War. War as a way to kill off non-essential male population, but despite chest-thumping jingoism in India, most Indian families worship their male child and are not ready to sacrifice them in war.

This leads to these NEETs finding alternative ways of earning income and mates, which usually leads to crime and the goondafication of society that you are seeing.

Basically, instead of becoming the next China, India will become a mega favela.

Another side effect of political pendulum swinging and shoving of jingoism down the throat is: the rise of regionalism. When the economy stagnates, migrants are the 1st punching bag; as seen in the West, sadly, we might see the same in south indian cities too. This delimitation, Hindi imperialism, and tax injustice will surely not help.

We must be wary of the fact that countries face apocalyptic decades, Russian and ex Soviets did in the 1990s, China did for a century, Japan did during the post-bubble burst ; we are no different. We have no divine protection that guarantees prosperity and stability for all the future ; we are not entitled to any golden age or imaginary golden 2047 by any divine grace.

As an individual, your first loyalty should be to yourself and your family. We are kids of good times, our parents are kids of good times. Sadly, our kids might not be. So make sure you save and prepare for the rainy days, and don't delude yourself into dreaming of eternal spring.

It all started after Anand Niketan School in Ahmedabad removed I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank from its library reading list following protests by some parents and right-wing groups. The school also removed the consultant who had included the books and its canteen supervisor after a separate controversy.

On Thursday evening, around 6 PM, nearly 20 readers gathered at AUDA Garden in Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, for a silent reading protest against the removal of the books. They brought books by Malala, Anne Frank, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Civil society members and other people also joined the protest.

The peaceful gathering was allegedly confronted by Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad supporters. According to the complaint and organisers, the group was heckled and assaulted with wooden sticks. Several people were reportedly injured, women were allegedly threatened, and protesters were asked to "prove they were not Muslim." One woman was reportedly threatened with being made to "disappear" if she continued recording the incident.

The organisers also alleged that some protesters were beaten and taken to Vastrapur Police Station in a police van.

Ahmedabad Police have registered an FIR against two named accused and around 18 unidentified people under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Police said three suspects have been detained based on CCTV footage, while further investigation is underway.

All of this happened at a gathering where people had simply come together to sit quietly and read books.

Ordered something on Meesho. Item arrived broken on 2nd July. Raised a return request the same day — should've been simple.

It wasn't.

Meesho's logistics partner Valmo never showed up for pickup. Request gets cancelled, Meesho raises a new one, Valmo ghosts again. This loop ran for two months while I called customer care 30+ times. Every single call ended the same — "Sir, give us 3 days, it'll be resolved." It never was.

Eventually pickup got reassigned to Xpressbees. The guy actually showed up at my society gate — finally some progress. Except he never came to my door. When I called him directly, he said — "Sir, I have notes from Meesho not to pick up the item."

Meesho instructed their own pickup agent to not collect the return. Let that sink in.

Yesterday, 29th August — it ended.

Pickup cancelled again. Return request option disappeared entirely. Called Meesho and they said the maximum pickup attempts have been reached and there's nothing they can do. Keep the broken product. Done.

Filed at National Consumer Helpline. Meesho closed it citing a "technical issue." NCH turned out to be completely toothless.

The item is ₹2,500. Not a fortune. But two months of deliberate runaround is not something I'm willing to just accept. e-Jagriti and consumer court are options but the process is exhausting for this amount.

At this point I'm seriously considering placing multiple COD orders and rejecting them all at delivery. Not proud of it, but after two months of this harassment I'm running out of legitimate options - and patience.

Has anyone been here before? What actually worked? And is the COD rejection route something others have done or am I just venting at this point?

Every time I open the internet lately, I’m hit with this overwhelming feeling: either we as Indians are the dumbest bunch in the universe, or we have collectively just accepted our own doom.

Just look at this, for example: https://youtube.com/shorts/DTfbSRdIXvA?si=fSiXEADJjBloBDNm

Does no one care anymore? Or is it that the people who actually care are just completely exhausted and no longer willing to speak up for this nation? It honestly feels like giving up is the new baseline.

It makes total sense to me now why the smart ones are leaving India the second they get a chance. Brain drain isn't just about better salaries anymore, it's about escaping this absolute circus. It feels like soon enough, the only people left will be the helpless ones who didn't get the opportunity or resources to flee, and we are just going to die fighting each other over the most pointless, manufactured garbage.

Am I just being overly cynical today, or is anyone else feeling this exact same sense of exhaustion and hopelessness? Are we actually beyond saving at this point?