Aglib thought recently struck me as my auto-crossed Soho House in Juhu, one of the new purveyors of poshness. "What if my impostor syndrome is fake?" I said to myself with a laugh, too lazy to peel the layers of this particular thought-onion. It did, however, make me think about the rampant pretentiousness that sociable living necessitates. Here's a list of five kinds of pressures we'd do well to shed.
The cultural bandwagon
A few days after Geetanjali Shree's Partition-themed Hindi novel Tomb of Sand, translated by Daisy Rockwell, won the International Booker, I stepped into a hipster coffee shop to buy an overpriced, bitter Americano I've developed a disturbing appetite for. I found two young women, dressed alike in pretty, floaty dresses, reading the book synchronously. It was quite an arresting sight, considering the book is 725 pages long; not your regular Tuesdays with Morrie or Jonathan Livingston Seagull kind of café performance staple. Made me wonder about the last time I read a book without posting about it. But then writers are allowed all kinds of vanity in the guise of connecting with readers. Phew.
The (second-hand) opinion factory
Denne historien er fra August 20, 2022-utgaven av Brunch.
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Denne historien er fra August 20, 2022-utgaven av Brunch.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Rohit Chawla
Photographer, artist, @RohitChawlaPhotography_
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