Kaustubh Naik
@kaustubh.bsky.social
PhD candidate at UPenn. Land, Law, and Language in colonial Goa (18th-20th c.)
New post on my Substack where I explore a broker’s cartography of Goa, where manufactured scarcity of real estate is disguised as refined taste, designed specifically for a class of buyers desperate to separate themselves from the tourists. open.substack.com/pub/kaustubh...
Decoding a Broker’s Cartography of Goa
Think Aldona, Nachinola, Bastora, Penha de França, and even Moira.
open.substack.com
New Substack post - Who belongs to Lord Parshuram’s Goa? open.substack.com/pub/kaustubh...
Who belongs to Lord Parshuram's Goa?
The Parshuram Myth and the Erasure of Bahujan Labor in Goa
open.substack.com
My latest piece for @scroll_in unpacks a bizarre 18th-century legal battle in Portuguese Goa: the defence of Hindu bigamy using Christian theology. Read here: scroll.in/article/1090...
The Bible and the Brahmin: The 18th-century defence of Hindu bigamy in Portuguese Goa
Historical documents tell a story of mutual collaboration between the colonial state and the Hindu elite to preserve patriarchal customs.
scroll.in
Penn admin began final bargaining with the grad union at night and I was told the bargaining got over at 1 am. Thankfully they agreed to the new contract!
How is it that the zone that you’re seated in is always called for boarding at the end?
In my new Substack post, I write about ‘this survived the brutal Portuguese rule’ hook for Insta reels and the algorithmic flattening of Goan history. open.substack.com/pub/kaustubh...
The Algorithmic Flattening of Goan History
The Instagram algorithm rewards retention and engagement.
open.substack.com
"A narrative that sells Goa as a morality-free zone for the mainland – a suspension of reality where the conservatism of Indian society holds no valency. This creates a ferocious, insatiable desire to consume Goa, to eat its land, drink its water and burn its silence" - @kaustubh.bsky.social
Scroll@scroll.in · 10mo agoThere is no force more destructive than a wealthy man wanting to fulfil his frivolous desires. Goa has tragically devolved into the ultimate manifestation of this desire, writes Kaustubh Naik. scroll.in/article/1089...
Where I decode what it means to be ‘Goa based’ for settlers.
Being (Goa) Based
Postal Posturing in the Settler Economy
open.substack.com
"The cheap alcohol, the boundless hedonism, the carefully staged “freedom” where mainland India’s social constraints do not hold valency — this is the hyperreal party state, designed to capture the aspirational elite’s longing for release." @kaustubh.bsky.social on the neo-colonialism gaze in Goa
Kaustubh Naik@kaustubh.bsky.social · 10mo agoThe Goa Simulacra open.substack.com/pub/kaustubh...
My long pending rant about the settlers in Goa and their crisis of belonging. open.substack.com/pub/kaustubh...
How to Belong in Goa
And other crises of Aldona Filmmakers
open.substack.com
The fuck we just returned midair to PHL because the aircraft had engine issues.
The rw ecosystem has set up a fellowship in Jadunath Sarkar’s name to foster research and publishing in Indian history.
R.I.P. Jayant Narlikar Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (1938-2025) I heard this morning of the death at the age of 86 of renowned Indian cosmologist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. I understand he died peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness. Scientifically, Jayant Narlikar is probably best known…
R.I.P. Jayant Narlikar
Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (1938-2025) I heard this morning of the death at the age of 86 of renowned Indian cosmologist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. I understand he died peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness. Scientifically, Jayant Narlikar is probably best known for his work with Fred Hoyle on a conformal gravity theory and as an advocate of the Steady State theory of cosmology.
telescoper.blog
This Sophia Qureshi optics is a trap that Indian Muslims, and Indian liberals should refrain from falling into. It has set unrealistic standards of acceptance for a community that is structurally persecuted on a daily basis.
The absurdity of our times is so much that Raj Thackeray of all the people has a restrained response, refusing to participate in the ongoing war mongering, and has instead asked pertinent questions about internal security lapses.
What has gotten into Indian liberals that they’ve turned into a war supporting mob overnight?
I am not worried for Kamra as much as I am worried for the crew that put this show together.
Chaava has unintentionally triggered a Brahmin Maratha feud in the Marathi public sphere.
Gathered some courage and said no to an invite to do a lecture. You either die young or live long enough to be invited as a शिवव्याख्याता.
Not Ravish Kumar asking Modi take a snake from Vantara and leave it in the White House as a response to Trump’s rant on tariffs.
Good days for Maratha history in Goa. However it’s interesting how they are now being invoked. The Goa CM said it’s a falsehood that the entire Goa was under 450 years of Portuguese rule and in fact the new conquests were ruled by Shiv shahi.
Hate that Beer Biceps will continue to have a career as a peddler of misinformation and bigotry but we have to do mental gymnastics to come up with nuanced takes on his freedom of speech.
