Sumati Thusoo

PhDing @RU_SMLR @RutgersU

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

Papa at Marine Drive in 1987 vs. Papa at Marine Drive in 2018

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

One of the best speeches I have heard in the recent past.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

here is Mamdani's entire speech at the Knicks parade, which is easily the best speech I've ever heard at an event of this sort

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

Found you, Speedy 🥺 Stopped in my tracks when I saw this bench in Central Park and realized it was your dad, @BDUTT. What a beautiful way to keep his memory alive.

[Iran in Mumbai @IRANinMumbai]

Maybe someone should book a one-way cultural detox for Mr. #Trump, it might just reduce the random bakwaas 😏

Kabhi #India aa ke dekho, phir bolna.

[Ruchi Gupta @guptar]

The lopsided balance of power between capital and labour: the workers have no ability to refuse to wear the cameras which are training systems which will eventually replace the workers themselves

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

🧪 @tjoesofficial I scanned one of your products on @YukaUS and it contains additives assessed as high-risk (Monocalcium phosphate, Disodium diphosphate). I ask you to remove them in order to protect consumer health. #NotInMyProduct https://t.co/nR0YWEhxCA

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

@sabakaul1 My grandma taught me and my sister this game.

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

@ExaltedFoks Wholefoods UWS was out of eggs

[South Asian Muse @SouthAsianMuse]

Beyond the postcards and clichés, there’s a world of lesser-known motifs shaped by looms, rituals and everyday life.

[Jairam Ramesh @Jairam_Ramesh]

Madhav Gadgil, the pre-eminent ecologist, has just passed away. He was a top-notch academic scientist, a tireless field researcher, a pioneering institution-builder, a great communicator, a firm believer in people’s networks and movements, and friend, philosopher, guide, and mentor to many for over five decades. Trained at the very best universities in modern science, he was at the same time a champion of traditional knowledge systems - especially in biodiversity conservation.

His influence on public policy has been profound going back to his crucial role in the Save Silent Valley Movement in the late 70s and early 1980s. His intervention to protect forests in Bastar was crucial in the mid -80s. Later, he gave shape to a new direction to the Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological Survey of India. During 2009-2011, he chaired the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel and wrote its report in a most sensitive and democratic manner that remains unmatched in both substance and style.

He had studied biology at Harvard under E. O. Wilson, who had been hailed as Darwin’s Heir. Although inspired by Wilson, Madhav Gadgil - unlike most others who went to study abroad - came back to India to build its own research capacities and capabilities, guide students, engage with local communities, and make a difference to policy. In all of these he succeeded more than admirably. Luckily three years back he was able to bring out his delightful memoir, which is at once educative, entertaining, and enlightening.

Madhav Gadgil’s life was devoted to scholarship in the noblest sense of the term. He will remain an iconic and inspirational figure.

Speaking on a personal note, in the twenty-six months I was Environment Minister during May 2009- July 2011, I turned to him every other day for guidance and advice. And our conversations were not confined to matters related to ecology. We spoke often of his father Dhananjay Gadgil, one of India’s greatest economists and author of that classic The Industrial Evolution of India in Recent Times, first published in 1924. We would also speak of the intricacies of the Indian monsoon, since his wife Sulochana was an authority on the subject.

Nation builders come in different forms and varieties. Madhav Gadgil was definitely one of them. Above all he had the hallmark of a true scholar— he was gentle, unassuming, and exuded empathy and humility behind which was a vast ocean of knowledge and learning.

[SrinagarGirl @SrinagarGirl]

Sharda Peeth in Shardi village, PoK which used to be in our Kashmir before 1947. Still should have been.

A friend from PoK shared this, hence the Urdu. Hope you understand the audio,

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

I am only posting snippets because this work refuses to be reduced. Raqib Shaw’s Paradise Lost is vast, unruly, almost howling, something you move through, not scroll past. If you are in Chicago, go see it in person at the Art Institute. Some things demand your whole body, not just your eyes.

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

Saw Raqib Shaw’s Paradise Lost at the Art Institute of Chicago yesterday.
As a Kashmiri, this work quietly broke me. Exile, memory, loss, beauty rendered over 21 panels, decades of labour, and unbearable detail. Some artworks don’t just speak; they recognise you.

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

This is such a good thread. Super informative and science backed.

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

STAY WITH ME.

A few years ago, a patient was referred to me because he was diagnosed with complicated cirrhosis. He had an infection which led to a condition called hepatic encephalopathy (brain failure due to high ammonia levels). The treatment largely involved ammonia reducing therapies. One drug was central to this - Rifaximin - a non-absorbable antibiotic that reduced ammonia in the body. I prescribed him Rifaximin for 6 weeks and advised him follow-up.

He came back to me, not after six weeks, but in 4 weeks, this time, in liver coma (worst stage of brain failure - due to very high ammonia). He spent two days in the ICU and six days in total in the hospital. His hospital bill was close to INR 80,000. He had no insurance and his wife borrowed the money from neighbors and friends to clear hospital dues.

Upon questioning, I found that he was not taking the Rifaximin drug I had prescribed. He was only on the other two drugs (one, a syrup called lactulose for improving ammonia clearance in gut). I was furious, because the patient spent a whole week unecessarily in the ICU and wasted so much money that he never had - just because he was "not compliant" to my orders. I decided it was time for me to school him a bit.

But I was wrong. He was compliant. He had purchased Rifaximin and was on it. For 15 days. Thereafter, he could not afford it. He was an autorickshaw driver who shuttled school children every morning and evening. He could hardly make ends meet. He had two children of his own. The Rifaximin brand I prescribed him was 42 rupees per tablet. He had to consume two a day - which would mean 2520 rupees a month. He just did not have that money - so he skipped it - to not compromise on other important matters - childrens education and food.

He was confused and scared about opting for a cheaper version of Rifaximin because one, he was unsure about the quality of Rifaximin that was not prescribed by me and two, he was "scared" that I would scold him for buying a cheaper Rifaximin and if that got him into trouble.

I was confused and scared about prescribing a cheaper version of Rifaximin because one, I was unsure about the quality of Rifaximin that was not "a good promoted brand" and two, I was "scared" that his family would scold me for prescribing a cheaper Rifaximin and if that got him into trouble.

It is heartbreaking that many doctors still simply don’t trust generic medicines. Too often, they worry that these cheaper options are lower quality or might cause more problems than the big, famous brands. This fear leads them to prescribe expensive drugs instead, and the real tragedy is that it pushes vital healthcare out of reach for the ordinary people who need it most - like my patient.

This narrative, that generic drugs 'are never good' and that only big pharmaceutical marketed drugs are what works has been deeply ingrained into doctors and patients alike - I do not know by whom and since when. Looking back, these strong emotions were based on either opinions, testimonials or second- and third-hand information. Not evidence.

Like I said. Stay with me. This is life changing and will disrupt the drug market in India. Here are the results of The Citizens Generic vs. Brand Drugs Quality Project.
1/11

[Ishan Fouzdar @ishanfouzdar]

Calling workers asking basic rights 'miscreants' is shameful. More shameful is justifying an inherently exploitative system which forces workers to partake in unfair systems. Exploitation is key to the capitalist venture!

[Kunal Kamra @kunalkamra88]

I am not against Blink-it alone all of them are abusing the unfair advantage they have over the unemployed.

If you guys can give us aggregate data of biryani, condoms & biggest orders while tracking them live…

Just release the below aggregate data so we either end the conversation or start one…

No of Delivery agents in 2024

No of hours they put in 2024

No of kilometres traveled in 2024

No of deliveries made in 2024

Money annually paid to per rider/ driver in 2024

The accidents/death at work & compensations given.

(We can calculate the money spent on petrol, electricity, CNG & know exactly how much they’re are paid)

If you can’t disclose this under the garb of data privacy, just a reminder sensitive customer data was stored in CHINA’s Alibaba by “some” of you before you grudgingly moved it to AWS…

Is anyone working in these institutions @LabourMinistry & @MCA21India

[Ambarish Satwik @AmbarishSatwik]

Midnight 31 Dec is astronomically meaningless. Nothing happens. No equinox or solstice. It’s just a planet mid-spin in the middle of another lap around an unremarkable G-type star. But for a certain species, the new year counts as optimism of a respectable order. It’s absurd. Like every other bit of storytelling we do. We stitch our days from what we tell; without the tale, we fare less well.

Storytelling is all we have. So Happy New Year to all of us, magnificent, perishable fools. The story continues for one more chapter. Let’s make it a good one.

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

Love how Zakir talked about Javed Akhtar’s critique on using cuss words in Indian comedy scene by 1. being respectful of his seniority and what he represents in terms of language, art and cinema and 2. by talking about the hegemony of a certain kind of language which not everybody may have access to because our languages are a result of where we come from, where we have been, who we interact with, basically histories of caste, class, migration, state, rural/urban etc. so having a puritan take on language is a bit too much.

[The Indian Express @IndianExpress]

Express Adda | #ZakirKhan on Javed Akhtar's dig at stand-up comics using cuss words in jokes

“I respect #JavedAkhtar a lot. I love his work. He reads a lot. For the kind of language and culture he represents as a writer, his comment on #comedians is valid,” he said.



However, the stand-up comic also underlined that Akhtar’s viewpoint does not generally apply in real life. He goes on to talk about the hegemony of language. 



Watch his take during @ExpressAdda 👇🏼

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

Finally watched #Dhurandhar here in Chicago and loved every bit of it. A neat, tightly written film, real-life incidents woven in with care, sharp research, and characters who actually have reasons to do what they do (no lazy writing). The music is a bonus. I don’t even remember the last time I sat still for 3.5 hours in a theatre and I don’t even like action films.

On the “it’s propaganda” chorus: it’s a spy film. The spy will be the protagonist; there will be an antagonist. Cinema has always carried politics. What feels unsettling here is simply that someone like @AdityaDharFilms doesn’t play by the usual, syllabus-approved politics of filmmaking or appeasement.

Congratulations to the entire team and to my dear friend @AdityaRajKaul who worked as a research consultant for the film. ❤️

[Praveen Swami @praveenswami]

To give credit where it’s due, this story was broken by Howard Kohn in 1978—sparking some irate New Delhi-Washington letters. The story might be news for the NYT, but it figures in detail in many books, including Paul McGarr’s masterpiece on intelligence in Cold War South Asia

[Sumati Thusoo @SumatiThusoo]

What a wonderfully researched journalistic piece. https://t.co/GDQkAVMbR6