Being Ostracized

That boy in the family who is not to be spoken about and who does not exist for most of the world.

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@Airtel_Presence what a poor service you have been consistently delivering that every week I have to reach out to you guys again. Twice every week! I have to switch to a local internet vendor who is readily available to install & fix if any issue arises.

[أحمد شريف العامري @AhmedSharif]

Four million Indians wake up every day in the UAE and go to work, open their shops, teach in classrooms, build companies, treat patients, and raise families.

Life is moving. Schools are open. Offices are running. Flights are landing. The country is steady.

The UAE was built on order, discipline, and foresight. Security here is structured, layered, and constant. Every resident matters. Every community is part of the national fabric.

India and the UAE are connected through decades of shared effort and shared success. That connection is visible in every neighborhood and every industry.

To the families watching from India: your loved ones are in a country that plans carefully, acts decisively, and protects responsibly.

This is a place of stability.
This is a place of trust.
This is home for millions and it remains secure. 🇦🇪🇮🇳

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

Earthquake in Kolkata.

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@bigbasket_com why my order has been cancelled without any information? This is the 2nd time it is happening. If you are not able to deliver, please make that area unserviceable.

[Deepinder Goyal @deepigoyal]

Last one on this topic, and I have been holding this in myself for a while.

For centuries, class divides kept the labor of the poor invisible to the rich. Factory workers toiled behind walls, farmers in distant fields, domestic help in backrooms. The wealthy consumed the fruits of that labor without ever seeing the faces or the fatigue behind it. No direct encounter, no personal guilt.

The gig economy shattered that invisibility, at unprecedented scale.

Suddenly, the poor aren't hidden away. They're at your doorstep: the delivery partner handing over your ₹1000+ biryani, late-night groceries, or quick-commerce essentials. You see them in the rain, heat, traffic, often on borrowed bikes, working 8–10 hours for earnings that give them sustenance. You see their exhaustion, their polite smile masking frustration with life in general.

This is the first time in history at this scale that the working class and consuming class interact face-to-face, transaction after transaction. And that discomfort with our own selves is why we are uncomfortable about the gig economy. We want these people to look our part, so that the guilt we feel while taking orders from them feels less.

We aren't just debating economics. We are confronting guilt. That ₹800 order might equal their entire day's earnings after fuel, bike rent, and app cuts. We tip awkwardly, or avoid eye contact, because the inequality is no longer abstract. It's personal.

Pre-gig era, the rich could enjoy luxury without moral discomfort. Labor was out of sight. Now, every doorbell ring is a reminder of systemic inequality. That's why debates explode. It's not just policy. It's emotional reckoning. Some defend the system (“they choose it”), others demand change (“this isn't progress, its exploitation”).

And here’s the uncomfortable twist: the unsaid ask of clumsy ‘solutions’ isn’t dignity. It is about returning to invisibility.

Ban gig work and you don’t solve inequality. You remove livelihoods. These jobs don’t magically reappear as formal, protected employment the next day. They disappear, or they get pushed back into the informal economy where there are even fewer protections and even less accountability. Over-regulate it until the model breaks, and you achieve the same outcome through paperwork instead of slogans: the work evaporates, prices rise, demand collapses, and the people we claim to protect are the first to lose income.

And then what happens?

The rich get their old comfort back. Convenience returns without faces. Guilt dissolves. We go back to clean abstractions and moral posturing from a distance. The poor don’t become safer, they become invisible again: back in cash economies, back in backrooms, back in shadows where regulation rarely reaches and dignity isn’t even debated.

The gig economy just exposed the reality of inequality to the people who previously had the luxury of not seeing it. The doorbell is not the problem. The question is what we do after opening the door.

Visibility is the price of progress. We can either use this discomfort to build something better (which we keep doing continuously as delivery partners are our backbone), or we can ban and over-regulate our way back into ignorance. One of those choices improves lives. The other simply helps the consuming class feel virtuous in the dark.

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@ANI Gyanesh has been exposed. @abhishekaitc please make sure Gyanesh does not get to repeat what he has done in Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra.

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@RbDiagnostic why am I not able to book any appointment through medibuddy app in any of your labs even though all your labs are listed on the app?

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@MediBuddyapp why am I not able to book an offline consultant despite paying the insurance premium on time? @ManipalCigna

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@gopaysense My issue is still not resolved. Please help

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@gopaysense I need help foreclosing the loan. Please help

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

It is a distraction whenever we are going back to history & say something controversial or discuss someone prominent from our history, you have to know election is not far away in that state. #Bengalelection #BankimChandra

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@gopaysense My issue is still not resolved. Please help

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@gopaysense Received, but my issue is still not resolved

[Neeraj Ghaywan @ghaywan]

Homebound in #Kolkata

[Raja Sen @RajaSen]

In this clip from the #PlayItaAgain podcast, #Homebound director Neeraj @ghaywan talks about caste-conscious filmmaking. @PragyaTiwari and I had a great conversation with the filmmaker about the culture that shapes him.

Do look for us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

Saw Neeraj Ghaywan's #Homebound
Gut wrenching, brilliantly made movie.
Wondering why such a good film in its second week is having only one show in entire Kolkata.
Also what is this about Ghaywan's style of storytelling...found the entire theatre sobbing including me.

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@myvoltas The issue still persists. How long will this take to get this sorted?

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

Watched a recent interview of @SDhawan25 , man, he is such a gem of a person. Feeling like hugging him. He is so cool & sorted, despite the things he has gone through in life. #Loveyoubrother #ShikarDhawan

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

@JioCare Despite having recharge & keeping phone on, today between 3 am to 5 am some of the jio numbers were unreachable in Dumdum area. Why is that? Why are we not able to connect with other jio users due to your poor network issue?

[Being Ostracized @arijitecrit]

& empowering Indian youth. Forcefully upskill them & make them teach personal finance. So that with time they realise the importance of work & the impact they create in the society/world. Then they will start liking their job & will not count hours at their work place.