Of hope, faith, and a nation's weight
been a better week than most!
Hello DoorDesi,
“A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance.“ This was the part from Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech on India’s day of independence from the British rule that Zohran Mamdani quoted in his victory speech. You don’t have to be a fan to appreciate this moment. To appreciate the weight those words carried on the 15th of August, 1947 and the weight they carry today.
On Monday the results of the Dutch election was announced. A centre-left party got the majority votes in a country that had voted overwhelmingly right in the previous election. On Wednesday came the news of Zohran Mamdani winning the NY mayoral elections. On Thursday came the news of the left’s win in the JNU elections. I consider myself to be on the centre-right of the political spectrum in most parts of the world. And yet, this overwhelming turns towards the left came as a respite because these wins are built on empathy, progress, and collective hope.
This week’s stories carry a bit of that same spirit from JNU’s red resurgence to Bengal’s atheists, from Zohran Mamdani’s Nehru moment in New York to India’s women cricketers rewriting glory on their own terms. For once, the world feels a little less cynical and a little more alive.
Have a great week ahead, folks!
Just the gist
The campus the the Indian Right had been eyeing and vilifying at the same time for the past decade is in he Left’s grip again. The Left Unity alliance (AISA + SFI + DSF) pulled off a clean sweep in this year’s JNU Students’ Union elections, winning all four central panel posts. While last year the vote had split between ABVP and the multiple candidates on the left, this year the Left stood united.
Aditi Mishra took the president’s seat, defeating the ABVP’s Vikas Patel by 449 votes. Kizhakoot Gopika Babu, Sunil Yadav, and Danish Ali filled out the rest of the winning slate, keeping the campus’ decades-old red banner flying high.
For the ABVP, it’s back to the drawing board after last year’s brief comeback, this election was a sharp reminder that the rhetoric that ‘everything that is not Right is wrong’ is bound to fall face first at some point.
➡️ This is the same campus that brought back slogans of Azaadi into the mainstream. The same campus gave us some of our nation’s biggest politicians across the political spectrum from Sitharam Yechury (CPI (Marxist)) to Nirmala Sitharaman (BJP). From Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee to political prisoner Umar Khalid.
In a similar turn of events, while much of India is busy arguing over gods these days, West Bengal seems to be outgrowing them. Okay that’s an overstatement but listen, I am having a good week, watching the ultra right wing meltdown all over, okay?
Around 500 people gathered in Kolkata this week under the banner of the Atheist Forum, a new state-wide movement promoting rationalism, scientific temper, and the constitutional right to non-belief. Anyone else feels taken back to their childhood days?
Founded in Nabadwip (the birthplace of a major Vaishnav saint, irony noted), the Forum is spreading across six districts with its simple mantra of Don’t believe, verify. Don’t fear, explore.
Speakers at the recent gathering cited Bengal’s fading rationalist legacy - Derozio, Vidyasagar, Rammohan Roy - and warned that religion is being weaponised to silence dissent and distract from real issues.
With its mix of students, homemakers, and professionals, the movement is less anti-religion and more pro-reason, a rare thing in today’s India.
➡️ And if you had thought “here comes another piece about Bihar election because Sudeshna won’t shut up about it“ you were right. I did start writing one but then thought I’ll give you guys something less divisive this time around. Like I said earlier, I am feeling generous with this week being a bit of a respite for those of us on the left and centre left (or even centre right depending on where you are) of the political spectrum. Enjoy my godlessness!
🔗All that shines is an opportunity
Gold and silver may have delivered nearly identical returns this year — around 51% — but when it comes to stress levels per rupee earned, gold still wears the crown. Experts say silver’s volatility makes it a wild child, thrilling in the short term, nerve-wracking in the long run. Gold, meanwhile, is acting like a grown-up, being all steady, reliable, and surprisingly better at outperforming equities over time.
Analysts are recommending a 15–25% gold allocation in your investment portfolio for stability, and a tactical 5–10% silver bet. Both metals are likely to stay bullish over the next 3–5 years, especially if U.S. rate cuts and geopolitical jitters persist.
➡️ Look at me talking like a big girl, reading up on investment options and thinking of portfolios. Has this information been helpful to you so far? If yes (or no), do let me know so I can pivot.
🔗Inshallah, the girls played damn freaking well!
In 2005, when India’s women lost the World Cup final to Australia, coach Sudha Shah came home quietly in an auto-rickshaw - no cameras, no crowd, no “well played”. Two decades later, after Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues led India to victory that lonely ride turned into a nationwide victory roar.
Back then, the team had four staff members and little recognition. Today, they have 17 support staff, packed stadiums, and primetime headlines. Shah couldn’t be prouder: “They have better pay, better respect — things will only get better”.
➡️ In a country where cricket is religion, it’s poetic justice that the women’s team finally found its congregation. Turns out, sometimes you just need a few decades (and a solid cover drive) to get your due.
Trending on the internet
🔗The way he ate them up (with his hand no less)
History just added a new desi chapter — Zohran Kwame Mamdani, the 34-year-old son of filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani, is now New York City’s first South Asian and first social democratic mayor.
In his victory speech, Mamdani channelled his inner Nehru, declaring, “Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new.” The “old,” in this case, being Andrew Cuomo, the political heavyweight he just unseated and with which he took down a political dynasty, as an inexperienced, new-to-the-business 30 something year old.
Backed by grassroots organisers and young progressives, Mamdani ran on a promise to make politics something people do, not something that’s done to them. His campaign became a rallying cry for affordable housing, immigrant rights, and a little hope in the world’s most jaded city.
➡️ No, this is not relevant for India in the same way that all the other stories are. But at the same time a lot of DoorDesis here are directly affected by this victory. Some of you are based out of New York and some of you live in the U.S. and in this Trump era you needed something to root for, a ground-up movement led mostly by the likes of us. That is why I have followed this story. Not because he looks like me, eats like me, or because I am huge fan of his mom’s (which I am). It’s because this felt, to a large extent, like a people’s movement. His singular focus on New Yorkers and their need for affordable life feels like a call back to a period in politics where leaders were OUR people.
Read with me
In the second part of Gendered Realities: Speaking Back to Disinformation, technologist Rohini Lakshané dismantles the idea that online abuse is just “trolling.” She calls it a politically engineered, profit-driven ecosystem of gendered disinformation. From deepfakes to AI chatbots that can impersonate victims, Rohini traces how misogyny has evolved from voyeurism to organised digital warfare.
She argues that collapsing everything into “online toxicity” hides the intent. It becomes random hate when it really is strategic harm aimed at feminists, journalists, and women from marginalised communities. Her solution is systemic safety by design — tech built with privacy audits, human rights checks, and accountability baked in.
➡️ TL;DR: AI isn’t just making art and emails; it’s now making misogyny scalable. As Rohini says, safety can’t be an afterthought in the making of technology, it has to be THE thought.
Thank you for reading this far!
With love on behalf of two women who cringe at the mention of chai tea latte,
Sudeshna
Co-Founder, DoorDesi 💃
Housekeeping
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