Why do we swear?
"Swearing serves many emotional, social, and psychological functions. It generally acts as an emotional “release valve” during moments of anger, frustration, pain, or surprise. Apart from this, swearing also helps create social bonds and a sense of shared identity within particular groups and communities.
It is also utilised as a linguistic weapon to assert power, insult others, or resist oppressive hierarchies. In everyday speech, swear words can act as intensifiers, adding emotional force and emphasis that neutral language often cannot convey.
Psychologically, swearing helps people cope with fear, horror, and difficult subjects such as death, often through humour or flippant language that reduces their seriousness. It also frequently appears as an automatic response to sudden physical or emotional triggers, sometimes persisting even when rational language abilities are impaired."
The force behind swear words lies in the fact that, although forbidden or indecent, they also travel across political and cultural barriers, passing from ear to ear through conversation, ritual abuse, friendly banter and popular media. Abhishek Avtans writes: himalmag.com/swear-words-so…
https://x.com/i/status/2076548956335772049
The history of Indian Parallel Cinema cannot be told without K.K. Mahajan.
A gold medallist from FTII, Mahajan emerged at a time when a new generation of filmmakers was reimagining Indian cinema. His collaborations with Kumar Shahani, Mani Kaul, Mrinal Sen, Basu Chatterjee and many others gave some of the movement's most significant films their visual identity.
What set him apart was his belief that cinematography should never overpower a film. As Mahajan himself once said,“It's the film that comes first and not cinematography; the story has to be told first" That philosophy shaped a body of work that moved effortlessly across genres.
On his death anniversary, we remember a cinematographer whose work changed not only how films looked, but also how generations of filmmakers approached the art. #KKMahajan #ParallelCinema #IndianCinema #Cinematography #NFDC
https://x.com/i/status/2076552492574548004
You Can’t Patent a Trench: The Real Biotechnology the Green Revolution Forgot - by Colin Todhunter countercurrents.org/2026/07/you-ca…
As water scarcity deepens and industrial agriculture reaches ecological limits, Colin Todhunter argues that the Green Revolution sidelined sophisticated ecological knowledge in favour of patentable, laboratory-driven technologies. Drawing on the farming methods of Bhaskar Save, the article highlights how soil, water and biodiversity can be managed as living systems that conserve resources while sustaining productivity. It examines the consequences of groundwater depletion, monocultures and corporate control over agricultural innovation, and makes the case for recognising traditional ecological practices as advanced forms of bioengineering that offer practical pathways towards resilient, regenerative and sustainable food systems in a changing climate.
https://x.com/i/status/2076508472368312593
The great Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers – taken from us far too soon at a mere 33 – has inspired me in many ways.
https://loveofallwisdom.com/blog/2026/07/on-being-from-canada-and-not-india/
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Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra
