Bala Variyam

in the unlikely event of others sharing my views, fault is entirely theirs

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@gopalears Always wonderful to listen to all your recommendations and meditations on music… It will be wonderful if you curated play lists for various moods/ times of day/ seasons/ artists/ etc. Thank you.

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@peeleraja Why do you say Kannad, when (I think) you know it is Kannada..?

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@RonanFarrow @NewYorker @andrewmarantz @threadreaderapp unroll

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

Try searching for a song in iTunes…

[peeleraja @peeleraja]

Try plotting a scatter plot in Excel and then talk

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@BuddyNoLove @peeleraja Try search in iTunes - not much can be worse than that…

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@JaipurLitFest @DalrympleWill He has been a vocal supporter of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza…

[peeleraja @peeleraja]

Sangh invites Sanghis. Nothing wrong there

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@peeleraja They should all take Vande Bharat, don’t you think?

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@UnamPillai @Arpo_IN Brilliant episode, once again. Quick feedback - during frames where Manu is giving a commentary/ monologue, the bgm could be dialled down a bit, so that it is easier to hear his commentary… (@sruthinlal tells me several people have given similar feedback)

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@dhanyarajendran Boby Chemmanur?

[aree_shuklajii @th_anonymouse]

Dear @tavleen_singh
You keep saying “the biggest threat to Indian democracy is a weak Opposition.”
Fair enough. But here’s the real question you never answer , Who weakened it?
Opposition parties didn’t randomly collapse they were systematically drowned by a media-industrial complex that now functions as an extension of power. And yet, your columns act as if this imbalance doesn’t exist, as if the battlefield is fair and only Congress forgot to show up.

You blame Congress’s “dead grassroots,” but conveniently ignore how institutions, agencies, and primetime propaganda have been weaponised to choke political space itself.
You talk of democracy’s decline, but stay silent on the structures that ensured it media capture, selective vigilance by the Election Commission, targeted raids, and narrative manufacturing on a scale India has never seen.

So tell us, @tavleen_singh , how is a weak Opposition the danger, but the forces that deliberately weakened it are not?
How is Congress the problem, but a system that punishes dissent, destroys credibility, and amplifies only one voice gets a free pass every time you write?

Your column lectures the Opposition, but not the ecosystem that ensures only one party can ever dominate the narrative. That’s not political wisdom that’s political convenience disguised as analysis.

If democracy is under threat, Tavleen, then the Opposition is the symptom.
The ecosystem you refuse to name is the cause.

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@stevenstrogatz Very much…

[Karuna Nundy @karunanundy]

Brilliant Gauri Gill took these viral photos of @MiraPagliNair and @ZohranKMamdani. She's being ripped off, they're being circulated without credit. These have her name on, let's share these and fix it.

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@prempanicker But then propaganda was never to make a profit but to please those in power. So, I suppose, WhatsApp will continue to write movie scripts…

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@UnamPillai @prempanicker In fact you both looked like each others’ doppelgänger :)

Excellent episode and looking for ward to the remaining series. Always in awe of Arpo and the work they do.

[Johns. @CricCrazyJohns]

- Kapil Dev in 1983
- MS Dhoni in 2011
- Harmanpreet Kaur in 2025.

KAUR JOINS THE ELITE LIST OF INDIAN CAPTAINS TO WIN CRICKET WORLD CUP 🥹

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

After recapitalization, OpenAI is now OPENAI

[TechCrunch @TechCrunch]

OpenAI has completed its recapitalization, splitting the AI lab into a for-profit corporation nested inside a non-profit foundation. https://t.co/IjZz0uj3H4

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

Well, this doesn’t surprise me. Only journalists are not allowed; Sudhir, etc are ok

[Manisha Pande @MnshaP]

Sudhir Chaudhary can interview Delhi CM on the ‘makeshift pond’ on Yamuna but our reporter wasn’t allowed to go near it.

You can tell why when you see the video.

[वरुण 🇮🇳 @varungrover]

The way these news channels vilified an entire industry and esp an innocent woman should have brought an end to the professional lives of these so called journalists.

If only the world was a fair place.

[Bala Variyam @_aperture]

@Padmasree Awesome. Congratulations to him… 👏🏽👏🏽