Of drains, democracy, and dalal street dip
The monsoon is here. So is press censorship. And a jungle cabin that might fix your soul.
Hello DoorDesi,
So monsoon is finally in full swing all over 🇮🇳. The loud pelting of rain drops on the facade of your family home, the smell of wet soil after the first shower (they call it petrichor right?), sometimes stormy nights, the evening cup of garam chai (and pakora if you may), lush landscapes, monsoon hikes, nasty potholes, and way too many bugs. Just all of it. All memories we share, love, pine for.
It, however, would not be fair to romanticise monsoons without acknowledging the devastation that comes with it in parts of the country and for under resourced families everywhere.
So while we, living abroad, sip our chai or filter coffee and think of Subha Mudgal’s ‘Ab ke sawan‘, let’s also remember that our nostalgia comes at someone’s cost. This is not to shame anyone into not romanticising monsoon. Hell, both of us are still suckers for monsoon, Mumbai, and Wake up Sid! This is just a gentle reminder that as a nation we still have a long way to go to ensure that everyone is able to associate positively to monsoons, rain, and petrichor.
Just the gist
🔗Monsoon woes: Smart cities, dumb planning?
It’s that time of year again, when Indian cities start resembling shallow lakes with auto-rickshaws as makeshift boats. A new report connects the annual flood chaos to a perfect storm of climate change and terrible urban planning. Are we even surprised?
While monsoons are getting more intense and erratic, cities aren’t exactly evolving. Most Indian urban centres still use outdated 19th-century drainage systems, some even British-era. Add to that unplanned construction, disappearing water bodies, and roads that are basically waterproofed death traps, and you’ve got a yearly disaster on your hands. Seems like we made our cities smart cities, forgot to make them flood-proof.
➡️ Whether you’re stuck in traffic in Mumbai or reminiscing from Toronto, this story is a reminder that India’s flood problem isn’t just about rain it’s about policy, planning, and political will. And until those things change, the monsoon will keep making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
🔗Of cheetahs and chess moves: Modi’s quiet power play in Africa
PM Modi just touched down Namibia 🇳🇦. Sure, the headlines hark back to India’s cheetah imports from Namibia in 2022 (because nothing says diplomacy like spotted cats). But behind the big-cat nostalgia is a calculated soft power move. India has been missing in action in Africa for over a decade at the PM level. Meanwhile, China has been wine-ing, dining, and infrastructure-spamming its way across the continent. PM Modi’s pitch? A kinder, less loan-sharky friendship: think development training, healthcare, digital tech; basically, vibes over vanity projects.
➡️ This isn't just a handshake and a heritage moment. It’s India trying to claw back influence in a region that’s fast becoming the next big geo-political battleground. If played right, it could unlock a whole new continent of trade, business and work opportunity for us DoorDesis to consider (you heard it here first).
🔗Bihar parties hit pause on politics to battle… Paperwork
In Bihar, political parties are shelving rallies and slogans for the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive. The goal? Update voter rolls. The problem? A large chunk of the electorate, especially the poor and marginalised, doesn’t have the paperwork the EC wants. So parties are deploying people on the ground to help their voters jump bureaucratic hurdles.
The RJD, Congress, AIMIM, and BSP have temporarily hit pause on campaign-mode to focus on guiding supporters through forms, photocopies, Aadhaar confusion, and suspicious booth-level bureaucracy.
The ruling NDA? Way less anxious. Everyone will get their due spot on the rolls. Nothing to see here, folks.
➡️ Bihar is a national political bellwether. What happens here can reshape alliances, narratives, and momentum heading into 2026 and 2029. That’s why the EC’s voter list revision is so politically charged especially when marginalised voters risk being disenfranchised.
The Sensex dropped over 500 points and Nifty dipped below 25,200 triggering minor heartburn across trading floors and WhatsApp groups. But don’t panic (yet). This isn’t a meltdown, just a reality check.
What spooked the markets? A combo platter: weak global cues, rising US bond yields, foreign investors pulling out some cash, and profit booking after a strong rally. Basically, investors decided to take some gains off the table and lie low ahead of key inflation data.
➡️ If you're an NRI tracking your India investments (or thinking of jumping in), this is a reminder that the ride isn’t always smooth. Global jitters still rattle Dalal Street, and short-term dips are part of the game. Stay calm, stay long, and maybe don’t check your portfolio before breakfast
Keeping up with the internet
🔗When the X falls on press freedom
Ooops we did it again. Netizens in India seem to have gotten Reuters free from the shackles of government censorship according to X. In a tweet, the platform stated that it was concerned about the state of press freedom in India after the government ordered it to withhold 2,355 accounts in the country, including that of Reuters without providing justification.
A public outcry followed soon after which the Reuters account was available again in India. Our IT ministry is chalking this up to miscommunication, it seems? Arre humne kab bola seems to be the gist of their response.
In classic Big Tech style, X is now doing the PR cha-cha. Read: We had to follow orders to stay online, but we’re very upset about it.
➡️ India’s censorship isn’t just tightening, it’s globalising. When platforms block journalists or news outlets, it limits what you can see about India, whether you're abroad trying to stay informed or in India trying to access independent reporting. The more the government controls the narrative, the harder it becomes to separate news from noise and truth from PR.
Desi culture
🔗 Crafting a kinder way to live in the mountains
Shimla-born architect Rahul Bhushan grew up dreaming of swapping ugly concrete boxes for soulful mountain homes. Today, he’s doing exactly that. Through NORTH, a Himachal-based collective he founded in 2017, Bhushan and his team are reviving traditional Himalayan architecture, training young designers, restoring heritage buildings, and building earthquake-resilient homes using centuries-old techniques like Kath Kuni and Dhajji Dewari.
But NORTH is a design studio with a full-on philosophy. Set in the quiet village of Naggar, the NORTH estate is part homestay, part community, part creative haven. Artists-in-residence come twice a year to soak in Himachali life. Interns arrive to learn how to build without breaking the hills. And guests? They come for peace, pine trees, and a private A-frame jungle cabin built from reclaimed wood, starlight, and sheer love.
There’s no concrete, no chaos, no cookie-cutter experiences here. Just good design, mindful living, locally sourced rajma, and the kind of mountain silence that resets your brain. It’s Himachal as it could be — and as it maybe should be.
➡️ As the Himalayas groan under mass tourism and shoddy construction, NORTH offers a blueprint for how to live (and travel) better: with care, with community, and with deep respect for the mountains we claim to love. Wellness holiday, sabbatical or escaping the cold; worth bookmarking for your next trip to 🇮🇳.
Tell us where you are
There is hardly a corner of the world one can go to and not meet a person of Indian origin. But here's the thing: there's surprisingly little data about where we actually are. We are on a mission to make the Indian diaspora visible, connected, and stronger.
Pin your spot, represent your city, and help us paint this map rangoli-style with our scattered-but-connected DoorDesi community. If you have already, send it to a DoorDesi living near you.
With love from two women who cringe at the mention of chai tea latte,
Sudeshna & Mili
Founders, DoorDesi 💃
P.S. Save us a chai if we ever end up in your city, we’ll bring the murukku.
Housekeeping
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