KrishinAsnani

For Indians, trade is a bazaar — haggling, prices never final. I was the Clinton neoliberal supporting NAFTA. Consumers won, workers lost. I brokered outsourcing deals, blind to contradiction.In light of Supreme Court ruling on tariffs, Trader Joe knew better.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/trader-joe

Trade as a Bombay bazaar — exchange of cultures, not just goods. As a migrant seeking belonging, I glommed onto Clinton's NAFTA:the consumer won, the worker lost. I brokered outsourcing deals, blind to contradiction. Trader Joe got the balance right. :
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/trader-joe

The Supreme Court just struck down President's tariffs, turning trade into theater. As a migrant seeking belonging to a tribe, Clinton’s wins on NAFTA felt like mine; later, I worked abroad on outsourcing deals. All I “won” was a tribe. My essay is Trade Joe : krishinasnani.substack.com/p/trader-joe

Watched Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will at an SF arthouse. Unsettled not by unfamiliarity, but by how familiar the visual grammar felt. How do we encounter propaganda now when spectacle and authority converge, my open letter to Leni:

krishinasnani.substack.com/p/open-lette...

In the ’80s I came from India in a three-piece suit to an American high school—jeans, T-shirts, hallway kisses. Like a foreign film without subtitles, I learned to read between the lines, but that first day, I took the nation at its word.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/suit

Cafe with guitars hung like shirts on clotheslines. Poetry so raw I wish the café would turn into a bar. A convo with a young woman nearby flickers and stays wispy, like trying to light a match for the cigarette I wanted with that drink.
Six SF moments in photo essay :
substack.com/home/post/p-...

Much like Hinduism, Bob’s Donuts in SF is a way of life. Bob, god of Treacle is invisible; this warehouse hums with pop Spanish tunes as the young barista sways and grooves. I asked for the bathroom key — just to hear her voice. Photo essay about attention:

krishinasnani.substack.com/p/waiting

As you wait in cafés, wander in museums, listen to bands in taverns, the world opens itself for observation. There’s no value in pointing out patterns; the value is in inhabiting them. I don’t ask what the minimum deposit is,or what the interest might be in, photoessay: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Waiting outside a cafe for a friend who never arrives.A young Indian American woman next to me calls her mom "mummy" while her American boyfriend makes unctuous comments to mom.A dowager with Goldendoodle and a dull book:Connections Over Compliance. Photo Essay: krishinasnani.substack.com/p/waiting

Waiting outside a cafe for a friend who never arrives.A young Indian American woman next to me calls her mom "mummy" while her American boyfriend makes unctuous comments to mom.A dowager with Goldendoodle and a dull book:Connections Over Compliance. Photo Essay: krishinasnani.substack.com/p/waiting

WAITING — a photo essay
Six places in San Francisco. Barn lights reflecting in windows. An Indian daughter calling her mom "mummy." Women dressed to win who leave alone. A barista saying "It's out of order" in two languages. My photo essay :
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/waiting

Over the holidays, I returned home to Forest Hills, Queens. In recessions I pray to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. In boom times I believe in Saraswati - she's a babe who believe in music and literature.
A Photo Essay/walk through my old neighborhood : krishinasnani.substack.com/p/where-im-f...

During economic recession, I pray to goddess of wealth, Laxmi, but during boom times, I believe in Saraswati, she's a babe who believes in literature and music. Since these are uncertain times I pray to both. My photo essay on visiting Queens year end.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/where-im-f...

America did not lose its empire in a single defeat. It loosened its grip—slowly, deliberately. Alliances recalibrate, Commonwealth of Autocrats rises. At home, a crisis of conscience unfolds in Minnesota. We are left to watch, wonder, and write:
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/end-of-emp...

America set the rules, held the umbrella, led the world. And then it stepped back—deliberately. Alliances shift, Europe re-arms, the “West” loses meaning. What does it mean when an empire chooses its own decline? End of Empire?

Reflections on Retreat:
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/end-of-emp...

America outsourced its conscience to a president. Now it must watch what that looks like. Minnesota—the polite, civic heart of the country—has become the stage for Americans to watch their neighbors act without manners, without warrants. My essay:

krishinasnani.substack.com/p/minnesota-...

Empires usually fall from pressure or rot.America's retreat is different: conscious, willful.We held the umbrella,set the rules, policed the routes.Until we stopped.As alliances recalibrate, what does chosen diminishment look like?My essay , End of Empire ?
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/end-of-emp...

Davos, where the old order still meets.

Industrial policy, not panel discussions.

I cheered NAFTA in the ’90s because I wanted my side to win. I was looking to belong to a tribe.
The consumer won. The worker lost.
Biden tried to fix that. Now we’re dismantling it.
My essay: Trader Joe — on tribes, trade, and what winning cost us.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/trader-joe
#Davos

Clinton's win meant my win. As a new migrant forming identity, I wanted to belong. I cheered NAFTA, brokered outsourcing deals. All I "won" was a tribe. My fellow citizens were left behind.My new essay : Trader Joe; How I woke up to what winning cost us.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/trader-joe

Fascinating to see “Flood the Zone” from the left.
In 14 days, Mamdani resets tenants, childcare ($1.7B), and small-business fines—power, money, narrative, tempo.
Ladies and gentlemen: what is the meaning of Mamdani?
My essay :
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/the-meanin...

What if the last 40 years were wrong—and government isn’t the problem, and society isn’t a fiction? What is the meaning Mamdani? This essay is about remaking the Center.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/the-meanin...

#ZohranMamdani #MovingTheCenter #PoliticalPhilosophy

What is the meaning of Mamdani? In this essay, I trace how he is remaking the relationship between citizen and government, between individual and society. How he upends Thatcher's mantra that society does not exist; it's a mere construct.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/the-meanin...

Where I'm from: Walkabout in Queens: my late mother's Dunkin', a temple where bundled deities make past lives tangible, Central Asian monuments to flavor, a technicolor dosa mural. The past as a new nation. My photo essay :

krishinasnani.substack.com/p/where-im-f...

#PhotoEssay #QueensNYC

Where I'm from: Dunkin' where my mother's mango lassi replaced milkshakes. A temple where bundled deities make past lives tangible. Gastronom's Central Asian monument. Dosa Hut's technicolor welcome.
krishinasnani.substack.com/p/where-im-f...

#QueensNYC #PhotoEssay

Flâneur’s Manhattan: Trinity Church’s celestial rock band; Devoción’s vine-soaked arbor; Peacock Alley where Art Deco spars with antiquity; Café Joyeux’s grace; And the new JPM tower—cards stacked and leaning, whispering: when does banking expire: krishinasnani.substack.com/p/photo-essa...

Manhattan in December: a church under towers, a café where vines become a cathedral, Apple logos orbiting Grand Central’s clock. Seven stops, fleeting moments, a flâneur’s map of attention and quiet wonder :

krishinasnani.substack.com/p/photo-essa...

Two nights with Ravi Coltrane at SFJAZZ: Friday's drums were set like bowls to be dipped with chopsticks. Sunday's cymbals shimmered with a sibilant lisp. The Coltranes are jazz royalty—and Ravi carries it with quiet mastery:

krishinasnani.substack.com/p/sunday-nig...

You and the Night and the Music—onstage at SFJAZZ. Ron Carter, 88, made sustained attention audible. Foursight Quartet, thumbs-up from Carter himself.

Essay :https://krishinasnani.substack.com/p/you-and-the-night-and-the-music-reflections

I unsubscribed from the NYT in 2003. Before invading Iraq, America had certitude—not doubt. Peirce knew inquiry begins with doubt. When belief hardens into orthodoxy—Iraq, finance, pandemic—trust collapses. My essay on how certitude led to doubting democracy:
krishinasnani.substack.com/profile/note

Burke: "Manners are more important than laws."
Hume: "Reason is slave of the passions."
Jane Austen's P&P was originally titled First Impressions. My essay on her moraity:

krishinasnani.substack.com/p/the-morali...

#JaneAusten #EdmundBurke #DavidHume #MoralPhilosophy #FirstImpressions