My Weight Statistics (2026-08-28) Ref. JN1 - Monthly Weight Measurement on the 28th of Each Month Since 28 May 2007.docx.
Friday, August 28, 2026
My 19-year Weight Management Records from 2007-05-28 to 2026-08-28 (by Calorie Restriction, i.e. Dietary Energy Restriction) (Ref. JN1):
Note: According to the Singapore Health Promotion Board, a Healthy BMI is greater than18.5 and less than 23.0. A BMI less than 18.5 would mean that the individual is at risk of nutrition deficiency diseases and osteoporosis.
A BMI equal or greater than 23.0 would mean that the individual is at risk of obesity-related diseases. (Ref: DD-Md2022J28)
As of 2026-08-28,
Note: ### indicates BMI = 23 or > 23
Total number of Monthly Weight monitored was 231 (100%)
The no. of times my healthy BMI between 18.5 and 22.9 was 226 (97.835%)
The no. of times my unhealthy BMI equal or more than 23.000 was 5 (2.165%)
=======================
2007
2007-05-28 morning, my weight = 65.0 kg, BMI = 23.588###
2007-06-28 morning, my weight = 61.0 kg, BMI = 22.136
2007-07-28 morning, my weight = 59.0 kg, BMI = 21.410
2007-08-28 morning, my weight = 58.7 kg, BMI = 21.302
2007-09-28 morning, my weight = 57.5 kg, BMI = 20.866
2007-10-28 morning, my weight = 57.5 kg, BMI = 20.866
2007-11-28 morning, my weight = 56.2 kg, BMI = 20.394
2007-12-28 morning, my weight = 55.5 kg, BMI = 20.140
2008
2008-01-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2008-02-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2008-03-28 morning, my weight = 54.5 kg, BMI = 19.777
2008-04-28 morning, my weight = 54.4 kg, BMI = 19.741
2008-05-28 morning, my weight = 54.1 kg, BMI = 19.632
2008-06-28 morning, my weight = 54.6 kg, BMI = 19.814
2008-07-28 morning, my weight = 54.5 kg, BMI = 19.777
2008-08-28 morning, my weight = 54.3 kg, BMI = 19.705
2008-09-28 morning, my weight = 54.9 kg, BMI = 19.923
2008-10-28 morning, my weight = 55.3 kg, BMI = 20.068
2008-11-28 morning, my weight = 54.5 kg, BMI = 19.777
2008-12-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2009
2009-01-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2009-02-28 morning, my weight = 55.9 kg, BMI = 20.285
2009-03-28 morning, my weight = 54.8 kg, BMI = 19.886
2009-04-28 morning, my weight = 55.3 kg, BMI = 20.068
2009-05-28 morning, my weight = 55.4 kg, BMI = 20.104.
2009-06-28 morning, my weight = 55.2 kg, BMI = 20.031
2009-07-28 morning, my weight = 55.1 kg, BMI = 19.995
2009-08-28 morning, my weight = 55.2 kg, BMI = 20.031
2009-09-28 morning, my weight = 56.3 kg, BMI = 20.431
2009-10-28 morning, my weight = 55.8 kg, BMI = 20.249
2009-11-28 morning, my weight = 56.2 kg, BMI = 20.394
2009-12-28 morning, my weight = 56.1 kg, BMI = 20.358
2010
2010-01-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2010-02-28 morning, my weight = 56.5 kg, BMI = 20.503
2010-03-28 morning, my weight = 56.4 kg, BMI = 20.467
2010-04-28 morning, my weight = 55.7 kg, BMI = 20.213
2010-05-28 morning, my weight = 55.1 kg, BMI = 19.995
2010-06-28 morning, my weight = 56.4 kg, BMI = 20.467
2010-07-28 morning, my weight = 55.5 kg, BMI = 20.140
2010-08-28 morning, my weight = 55.8 kg, BMI = 20.249
2010-09-28 morning, my weight = 55.8 kg, BMI = 20.249
2010-10-28 morning, my weight = 55.4 kg, BMI = 20.104
2010-11-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2010-12-28 morning, my weight = 55.5 kg, BMI = 20.140
2011
2011-01-28 morning, my weight = 55.4 kg, BMI = 20.104
2011-02-28 morning, my weight = 56.5 kg, BMI = 20.503
2011-03-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2011-04-28 morning, my weight = 55.7 kg, BMI = 20.213
2011-05-28 morning, my weight = 55.6 kg, BMI = 20.177
2011-06-28 morning, my weight = 56.3 kg, BMI = 20.431
2011-07-28 morning, my weight = 56.5 kg, BMI = 20.503
2011-08-28 morning, my weight = 56.9 kg, BMI = 20.649
2011-09-28 morning, my weight = 56.2 kg, BMI = 20.394
2011-10-28 morning, my weight = 56.8 kg, BMI = 20.613
2011-11-28 morning, my weight = 59.0 kg, BMI = 21.410
2011-12-28 morning, my weight = 60.3 kg, BMI = 21.882
2012
2012-01-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2012-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2012-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.5 kg, BMI = 22.681
2012-04-28 morning, my weight = 61.3 kg, BMI = 22.246
2012-05-28 morning, my weight = 60.7 kg, BMI = 22.028
2012-06-28 morning, my weight = 60.6 kg, BMI = 21.992
2012-07-28 morning, my weight = 61.2 kg, BMI = 22.209
2012-08-28 morning, my weight = 60.8 kg, BMI = 22.064
2012-09-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318**
2012-10-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.608
2012-11-28 morning, my weight = 63.4 kg, BMI = 23.008###
2012-12-28 morning, my weight = 62.9 kg, BMI = 22.826
2013
2013-01-28 morning, my weight = 63.0 kg, BMI = 22.863
2013-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.1 kg, BMI = 22.536
2013-03-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2013-04-28 morning, my weight = 63.1 kg, BMI = 22.899****
2013-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.608
2013-06-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2013-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2013-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg BMI = 22.717
2013-09-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg BMI = 22.645**
2013-10-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg BMI = 22.609
2013-11-28 morning, my weight = 63.1 kg BMI = 22.899
2013-12-28 morning, my weight = 64.4 kg BMI = 23.371###
2014
2014-01-28 morning, my weight = 63.6 kg, BMI = 23.080###
2014-02-28 morning, my weight = 63.3 kg, BMI = 22.971
2014-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2014-04-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2014-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.9 kg, BMI = 22.826
2014-06-28 morning, my weight = 63.1 kg BMI = 22.899
2014-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.7 kg, BMI = 22.753
2014-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2014-09-28 morning, my weight = 61.2 kg, BMI = 22.209
2014-10-28 morning, my weight = 61.4 kg, BMI = 22.282
2014-11-28 morning, my weight = 60.2 kg, BMI = 21.846
2014-12-28 morning, my weight = 60.8 kg, BMI = 22.064
2015
2015-01-28 morning, my weight = 61.3 kg, BMI = 22.246
2015-02-28 morning, my weight = 61.8 kg, BMI = 22.427
2015-03-28 morning, my weight = 61.8 kg, BMI = 22.427
2015-04-28 morning, my weight = 62,5. kg, BMI = 22.681
2015-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2015-06-28 morning, my weight = 63.6 kg, BMI = 23.080###
2015-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg BMI = 22.609
2015-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2015-09-28 morning, my weight = 63.0 kg, BMI = 22.863
2015-10-28 morning, my weight = 63.2 kg, BMI = 22.935
2015-11-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg, BMI = 22.717
2015-12-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg BMI = 22.609
2016
2016-01-28 morning, my weight = 63.0 kg, BMI = 22.863
2016-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.8 kg, BMI = 22.790
2016-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2016-04-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2016-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2016-06-28 morning, my weight = 62.1 kg, BMI = 22.536
2016-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2016-08-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg, BMI = 22.717
2016-09-28 morning, my weight = 62.8 kg, BMI = 22.790
2016-10-28 morning, my weight = 62,5. kg, BMI = 22.681
2016-11-28 morning, my weight = 62.1 kg, BMI = 22.536
2016-12-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.608
2017
2017-01-28 morning, my weight = 62.9 kg, BMI = 22.826
2017-02-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.644
2017-03-28 morning, my weight = 62.8 kg, BMI = 22.789
2017-04-28 morning, my weight = 62.3 kg, BMI = 22.609
2017-05-28 morning, my weight = 62.2 kg, BMI = 22.572
2017-06-28 morning, my weight = 62.6 kg, BMI = 22.717
2017-07-28 morning, my weight = 62.4 kg, BMI = 22.645
2017-08-28 morning, my weight = 61.9 kg, BMI = 22.463
2017-09-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2017-10-28 morning, my weight = 62.0 kg, BMI = 22.499
2017-11-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2017-12-28 morning, my weight = 61.5 kg, BMI = 22.318
2018
My Weight 2018-01-28 0934 hr 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2018-02-28 0915 hr 60.7 kg BMI 22.027
My Weight 2018-03-28 0620 hr 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2018-04-28 1005 hr 61.7 kg BMI 22.390
My Weight 2018-05-28 0856 hr 60.5 kg BMI 21.955
My Weight 2018-06-28 0600 hr 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2018-07-28 0600 hr 62.2 kg BMI 22.572
My Weight 2018-08-28 0720 hr 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2018-09-28 0805 hr 62.1 kg BMI 22.535
My Weight 2018-10-28 0750 hr 61.3 kg BMI 22.24
My Weight 2018-11-28 1000 hr 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2018-12-28 0650 hr 62.5 kg BMI 22.681
2019
2019-01-28 at 1000 hr 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
2019-02-28 at 0946 hr 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
2019-03-28 at 0700 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
2019-04-28 at 0828 hr 62.9 kg BMI 22.826
2019-05-28 at 0745 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.826
2019-06-28 at 0650 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
2019-07-28 at 0736 hr 62.8 kg BMI 22.789
2019-08-28 at 0629 hr 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
2019-09-28 at 0644 hr 61.9 kg BMI 22.463
2019-10-28 at 0740 hr 62.5 kg BMI 22.681
2019-11-28 at 0632 hr 62.8 kg BMI 22.789
2019-12-28 at 0726 hr 62.5 kg BMI 22.681
2020
My Weight 2020-01-28 0625 HR 62.6 kg BMI 22.717
My Weight 2020-02-28 0728 HR 62.3 kg BMI 22.608
My Weight 2020-03-28 0649 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2020-04-28 0810 HR 62.0 kg BMI 22.499
My Weight 2020-05-28 0714 HR 62.3 kg BMI 22.608
My Weight 2020-06-28 0757 HR 60.2 kg BMI 21.846
My Weight 2020-07-28 0715 HR 61.6 kg BMI 22.354
My Weight 2020-08-28 0707 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2020-09-28 0609 HR 60.8 kg BMI 22.064
My Weight 2020-10-28 0818 HR 60.7 kg BMI 22.027
My Weight 2020-11-28 0706 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2020-12-28 0631 HR 60.5 kg BMI 21.955
2021
My Weight 2021-01-28 0638 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-02-28 0741 HR 61.2 kg BMI 22.209
My Weight 2021-03-28 0659 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-04-28 0659 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2021-05-28 0618 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2021-06-28 0604 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-07-28 0642 HR 61.2 kg BMI 22.209
My Weight 2021-08-28 0653 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2021-09-28 0618 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2021-10-28 0549 HR 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2021-11-28 0630 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2021-12-28 0528 HR 61.6 kg BMI 22.354
======================================
2022
My Weight 2022-01-28 0910 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2022-02-28 0642 HR 61.2 kg BMI 22.209
My Weight 2022-03-28 0649 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2022-04-28 0649 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2022-05-28 0549 HR 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2022-06-28 0549 HR 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2022-07-28 0700 HR 60.6 kg BMI 21.991
My Weight 2022-08-28 0640 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2022-09-28 0738 HR 61.7 kg BMI 22.390
My Weight 2022-10-28 0708 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2022-11-28 0706 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2022-12-28 0722 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
========
2023
My Weight 2023-01-28 0537 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2023-02-28 0515 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2023-03-28 0606 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2023-04-28 0738 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2023-05-28 0721 HR 61.0 kg BMI 22.136
My Weight 2023-06-28 0641 HR 61.2 kg BMI 22.209
My Weight 2023-07-28 0700 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2023-08-28 0655 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2022-09-28 0738 HR 61.7 kg BMI 22.390
My Weight 2022-10-28 0708 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2023-11-28 0612 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2023-12-28 0734HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
========
2024
My Weight 2024-01-28 0734 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2024-02-28 0510 HR 61.6 kg BMI 22.354
My Weight 2024-03-28 0642 HR 60.9 kg BMI 22.100
My Weight 2024-04-28 0721 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2024-05-28 0537 HR 61.3 kg BMI 22.245
My Weight 2024-06-28 0651 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2024-07-28 0612 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2024-08-28 0747 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2024-09-28 0640 HR 61.1 kg BMI 22.173
My Weight 2024-10-28 0546 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2024-11-28 0706 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2024-12-28 0649 HR 61.9 kg BMI 22.463
=======================================
2025
My Weight 2025-01-28 0625 HR 61.6 kg BMI 22.354
My Weight 2025-02-28 0742 HR 61.5 kg BMI 22.318
My Weight 2025-03-28 0640 HR 61.6 kg BMI 22.354
My Weight 2025-04-28 0734 HR 61.7 kg BMI 22.390
My Weight 2025-05-28 0738 HR 61.8 kg BMI 22.427
My Weight 2025-06-28 0606 HR 62.6 kg BMI 22.717
My Weight 2025-07-28 0757 HR 62.7 kg BMI 22.753
My Weight 2025-08-28 0546 HR 62.6 kg, BMI 22.717
My Weight 2025-09-28 0540 HR 62.2 kg BMI 22.572
My Weight 2025-10-28 0516 HR 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
My Weight 2025-11-28 0810 HR 62.1 kg BMI 22.535
My Weight 2025-12-28 0702 HR 62.2 kg BMI 22.572
=========================
2026
My Weight 2026-01-28 0733 HR 61.9 kg BMI 22.463
My Weight 2026-02-28 0649 HR 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
My Weight 2026-03-28 0511 HR 62.1 kg BMI 22.535
My Weight 2026-04-28 0523 HR 62.4 kg BMI 22.644
My Weight 2026-05-28 0521 HR 61.8 kg BMI 22.427
My Weight 2026-06-28 0821 HR 61.8 kg BMI 22.427
My Weight 2026-07-28 0739 HR 61.4 kg BMI 22.281
My Weight 2026-08-28 0525 HR 61.8 kg BMI 22.427
=========================
Note:
My current BMI is within the healthy range of 18.5 to 22.9.
For me, the range of healthy weight is 50.9786 kg (BMI = 18.5) to 63.10324 kg (BMI = 22.9).
People with BMI values of 23 kg/m2 (or 25 kg/m2 according to some sources) and above have been found to be at risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.
To be healthy, I must have a healthy weight.
Be as lean as possible without being underweight, as recommended by World Cancer Prevention Foundation, United Kingdom.
=================================
Note: On 2021-05-28, I removed the unimportant details of old records from My Weight Management Records.
=================================
Ref. WeightManagement
Two nations of the exam
For subscribers only
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/two-nations-of-the-exam/
July 30, 2026
By Pallavi Aiyar
The Times of India
=====
The Nations of the Exam
By Pallavi Aiyar
In large countries with unruly demography— teeming and unequal—a viable social contract needs some way of promising equality of opportunity. India and China , the world’s two most populous nations, have converged on the same instrument: the competitive public exam. For all the anxiety, exhaustion and tragedy these examinations produce, for hundreds of millions of families they remain the one guaranteed shot at a better life.
The two countries are separated by the Himalayas but united by an organizing principle of family life: it is a parent’s duty to engineer the conditions under which a child can sit an exam, and a child’s duty to sit it. We are both nations of the Exam.
This year, exam season was a study in contrast.
In India, a leaked medical entrance paper voided the results of 2.27 million students and forced a re-sit. In the forty-six days between cancellation and re-examination, at least thirteen aspirants took their own lives. What followed was a youth-led movement that occupied the streets of cities across the country and has dented Prime Minister Modi’s hitherto invincible image.
I was watching from a few thousand kilometres north, in Beijing, where China was in the middle of its own exam season — the gaokao taken by aspiring university students is held every June and is the largest standardized test on earth. This year 13.35 million students took it.
The exam is designed centrally by the Ministry of Education and administered by the provinces. Every year the entire country briefly reorganizes itself around one task: making sure millions of school leavers answer the same questions under the same conditions, at the same moment. Exam papers travel and are stored like state secrets: GPS-tracked vehicles, police escort. Teachers who develop the exam questions are reportedly confined for about a month in secure facilities. The papers are often printed by high-security units where waste disposal and drainage systems are closely monitored to prevent leaks.
Exam halls run facial recognition, signal jammers, and blanket bans on phones and smartwatches. Since last year, China’s major AI firms have voluntarily throttled their own products during the exam window, disabling image recognition and real-time question-answering. Regulators, meanwhile, trawl social media for rumours of leaks and ads for cheating services.
My own, usually bustling, neighbourhood in central Beijing was hushed for the week of the gaokao. Construction paused. Car horns were discouraged. Traffic was rerouted to help exam takers arrive on time. Police ran shuttle services for stragglers; volunteers lined the roads with free rides, water, snacks.
This was the text message my telecom provider sent me in the run-up to the exam. (Screenshot below)
The machinery can seem almost absurdly elaborate until one understands what is actually being protected. The gaokao is more than an examination. It is the Chinese state’s most visible demonstration that career advancement is governed by meritocratic rules rather than by family background or political connections. In a country where inequality is immense, the examination is one of the few institutions that must be seen to be fair.
This is why the Party devotes such extraordinary attention to getting it right. Unlike in India, the Chinese Communist Party cannot renew its mandate through elections; instead, it renews it through demonstrations of competence. An orderly gaokao is one such demonstration. Every candidate who believes the rules are fairly enforced is, in a small way, a citizen who is persuaded that the state is delivering its side of China’s grand political bargain: we will govern effectively, you need not concern yourself with politics.
Few things threaten this bargain more than the suspicion that the country’s principal engine of social mobility has been rigged. The Party has never forgotten that China’s last great political crisis began with students. The protests of 1989 were not about the gaokao, but they remain a haunting reminder that when young people lose faith in a system, their grievances can quickly snowball, with dangerous consequences for those in power.
In India, the public examination system is in some ways even more fundamental than in China. The Chinese Communist Party inherited, and then transformed, a society riven with hierarchies, but the revolution provided a powerful levelling ideology: at least in principle, citizens entered the new state as equals. India inherited democracy without a comparable social revolution. Caste, religion, region and community remained load-bearing structures of social life. As a result, public examinations carry an even greater equalizing burden than in China.
India’s is a democracy of process more than delivery: elections are held on schedule, results are respected, and governments change hands peacefully. The machinery works. But process is not the same as accountability. For much of the country’s history, politics has been conducted less through demands for universal public goods than through claims made on behalf of sectarian communities — caste calculations, religious appeals and regional bargains. Citizens usually approach the state as members of a specific group, rather than simply as citizens entitled to equal treatment.
That is what makes this summer’s student protests so striking. Theirs have not been demands for a larger share of state resources, greater representation for a particular group, or a new entitlement. They’ve been demands that one institution, the examination system, function according to a universal rule: that every candidate, regardless of background, face the same test under the same conditions. It is a seemingly straightforward ask, but in India it carries unusual political weight. The demand for a fair exam is about much more than an exam. It is an insistence that the state treats citizens equally — and, in India, that is radical politics.
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Ah San 阿三
Inside Beijing's mind: How China really sees India
https://www.inkl.com/a/EkBPRGfWlBl
=====
They were cheaper than European officers and considered more reliable than local recruits, which slotted them into a colonial hierarchy as the enforcer's enforcer. Shanghainese called them 'hong tou Ah San' - red-headed number three: red for the turban, 3 for their rank beneath the British (No. 1) and Chinese (No. 2). The term hardened into shorthand for Indians generally, the willing instrument of the White man against fellow Asians
Inside Beijing's mind: How China really sees India
=====
Pallavi Aiyar is a territorially polygamous correspondent, columnist, and author. She has reported from — and raised a family in — China, Belgium, Japan, Indonesia and Spain. She writes about the world with indiscriminate delight and a weakness for the surprising connections between people and places.
=====
https://www.inkl.com/a/EkBPRGfWlBl
By Pallavi Aiyar
August 6, 2026
Beijing: Every communication encounter has an encoder, the speaker trying to convey something, and a decoder, the listener receiving it. Miscommunication happens when the message decoded isn't the one that was sent. India and China have this problem.
There is an undeniable structural asymmetry at the heart of the bilateral relationship. India and China do not think about each other with equivalent intensity. For China, India is a significant regional actor, a nuclear-armed neighbour, a potential irritant - but not a strategic equal. In contrast, China exerts gravitational force on strategic thinking in New Delhi. It is present in every military procurement decision, infrastructure project in the border regions, and calculation about Pakistan.
Also Read: India enters the story as China begins to rewrite the chips playbook
The asymmetry is not merely psychological. In 1990, India and China had broadly comparable per-capita incomes. By 2025, China's $19.4 tn GDP was nearly 5x India's $4.1 tn. As a participant in a recent conversation between Indian journalists and Chinese think-tankers in Beijing put it: India should accept its position of relative weakness without shame, and figure out how to leverage Chinese economic strength pragmatically. It was a reasonable argument. Indians in the closed-door gathering bristled. Pragmatism, encoded by the speaker, was decoded by his audience as condescension.
In the 2000s, Chinese perceptions of India were warm, and - unlike attitudes to Japan - organically so, not state-managed. Older Chinese remembered Raj Kapoor's socialist-era Awaara fondly. There was real respect for India as Buddhism's birthplace, and a kind of collegial regard for India's software outsourcing success, an area where India had outpaced China.
Today's younger Chinese carry less of that warmth and more of a coolly comparative gaze. The developmental gap has widened, and the register has shifted from potential peer to laggard-to-be-advised, or worse, presumptuous rival. Social media does the rest. Narendra Modi's unmet 2019 pledge of a $5 tn economy by 2024 is a recurring, mocking reference point whenever India's Vision 2047 comes up.
Some of this trolling curdles into something uglier, carrying a term most Indians have never heard: Ah San. Understanding it means going back to the treaty ports of late-19th and early-20th c. Shanghai, where Sikh policemen - recruited by the hundreds from Punjab from 1885 onward - made up a third of Shanghai Municipal Police.
Also Read: Despite swadeshi push, anti-dumping duties against Chinese firms crawl
They were cheaper than European officers and considered more reliable than local recruits, which slotted them into a colonial hierarchy as the enforcer's enforcer. Shanghainese called them 'hong tou Ah San' - red-headed number three: red for the turban, 3 for their rank beneath the British (No. 1) and Chinese (No. 2). The term hardened into shorthand for Indians generally, the willing instrument of the White man against fellow Asians.
Indian merchants had their own, less remembered role in this history. Parsi and Marwari traders were commercial intermediaries in the opium trade Britain forced on the Qing empire. By 1831, 41 Parsi merchants operated in Guangzhou's foreign enclave, outnumbering the English and Americans combined.
Marwari firms like Tarachand Ghanshyamdas traded opium futures across the Malwa belt. The fortune of Shiv Narain Birla, grandfather of Gandhi confidant G D Birla, has roots in that trade. Some of that same capital later helped fund India's independence movement. These merchants, junior partners in a system they didn't design, were neither innocent nor sovereign. But in China, the specifics faded while the residue stayed: the Sikh's red turban, the Parsi's opium chest, hardened into an instinct that India is the West's willing instrument.
That instinct still colours how Beijing reads Indian foreign policy today. The 2008 Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver, secured for India by George W Bush, wasn't read in Beijing as recognition of India's weight. It confirmed India had settled into the role of favoured American client. The Quad gets the same treatment. Where India encodes these as sovereign strategic choices, China decodes them, instinctively, as a reprise of the comprador reflex.
The misreading runs both ways. If China sees India through colonial subordination, India sees China through the lens of 1962 - the war that shattered Nehru's Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai idealism and left India, in its own telling, betrayed by a fellow postcolonial power it had trusted.
That wound still shapes how India reads Chinese moves today: Beijing's arming of Pakistan - visibly on display when Chinese-built J-10C fighters faced Indian jets in aerial engagements in May 2025 - reads in Delhi not as ordinary alliance politics but as deliberate encirclement, timed, it often feels, with pointed precision.
Neither side fully sees its blind spot. China looks at India and sees Ah San, repositioned for this century. India looks at China and sees 1962's smiling betrayer, advancing pawns beneath the table. In communication theory, the fix for a persistent encoding failure isn't to speak louder. It's to learn the other side's implicit assumptions, not just their words. India and China talk past each other fluently, and with total conviction.
It is never easy for a person to sit with a story that contradicts the one they grew up on. For nations carrying a century's accumulated weight, it is harder still.
(This is an edited version of an article that was first published in Noema Magazine)
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Pallavi Aiyar is a territorially polygamous correspondent, columnist, and author. She has reported from — and raised a family in — China, Belgium, Japan, Indonesia and Spain. She writes about the world with indiscriminate delight and a weakness for the surprising connections between people and places.
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陶朱公讲堂：SIA /Vistara的眼前困境
陶朱公讲堂：SIA /Vistara的眼前困境
文/戴文雪
@27/8/26
新航折翼？
2026年，新加坡航空正经历一场严峻考验。刚交出近六年来首份季度亏损成绩单——截至6月底的2027财年第一季净亏7600万新元，昔日“航空业黄金标准”似乎暂失光芒。这场考验的核心，正是那个被寄予厚望却持续失血的战略棋子：印度航空。
战略初心：跳出“小红点”的宿命
新航与印航的渊源可追溯至本世纪初。2001年，新航曾与塔塔集团联手竞购印航股权，却因当地政治与工会阻力放弃。真正的突破始于2013年，新航与塔塔合资成立塔新航空（Vistara），以相对谨慎的方式扎根印度市场。
转折发生在2021年。当塔塔集团从印度政府手中接管连年亏损的印航时，邀请新航担任私有化顾问。彼时新航正深感“单枢纽模式”的脆弱，新冠疫情暴露了新加坡缺乏国内市场的致命伤，边境关闭意味着近乎全面停摆。而印度，这个全球增长最快的航空市场之一，提供了难得的战略纵深。
2024年11月，塔新航空（Vistara）正式并入印航，新航以注资及转让股权方式，持有合并后印航25.1%股份。新航总裁吴俊鹏明言，这笔投资让集团能直接进入印度国内市场并通过印度枢纽辐射国际，与新加坡枢纽互补，实现“单枢纽模式无法充分实现的增长机遇”。
现实困境：完美风暴下的巨额亏损
然而，战略愿景迅速被残酷现实吞噬。截至2026年3月底的财年，印航（含印度快运）录得23.3亿美元巨亏，较前一财年翻倍。新航承担的应占亏损达9.45亿新元，相当于集团全年净利近八成。在财年末，这项投资的账面价值已从20亿新元缩水至11亿。
亏损背后是一连串“完美风暴”：巴基斯坦关闭领空，迫使印航绕道增加成本；中东冲突推高燃油价格并扰乱航线；2025年6月的波音787空难（260人遇难）重创运营与声誉；全球供应链问题拖慢机队翻新；卢比贬值则令美元计价成本雪上加霜。
塔塔集团董事长陈哲（Natarajan Chandrasekaran ）坦言，扭亏过程“可能需要长达10年”。如今，印航据报正向两大股东寻求15亿美元注资，新航若按25.1%持股比例出资，需承担约3.76亿美元。
破局之道：可行方案
面对困局，新航并非束手无策。专家提出以下几个方向或可助其守住战略底线，同时控制财务风险：
第一，强化“以专业换权益”的谈判筹码。新航不仅是印航的重要股东，更拥有全球顶级的运营管理经验。目前集团总裁吴俊鹏已出任印航董事会非执行董事。新航可进一步争取在机队规划、收益管理、服务标准等核心环节的更大话语权，确保转型方向符合预期，而非被动承担亏损。
第二，分阶段注资，设定明确止损线。印航此次提出的15亿美元并非一次性到账。新航可坚持按进度分批出资，将每笔注资与可量化的运营改善指标（如客座率、准点率、成本削减进度）挂钩，一旦关键指标未达门槛，有权重新评估后续注资。
第三，加速协同效应变现。新航应推动印航与自身航线网络深度整合，在代码共享、常旅客计划、联合采购等方面挖掘收入协同。利用印度作为国际中转点的潜力，将印度客流引向新航的东南亚及亚太网络，使“多枢纽战略”真正落地而非停留在愿景。
第四，评估独立运营的退出路径。若中长期转型无明显起色，新航应考虑在适当时机出售部分或全部印航股权，即使折价退出，也优于无底洞式的持续注资。星展银行分析师预计印航“未来几年内不会实现盈利”，这一现实必须纳入董事会考量。
小結：
發展中國家的投資市場充斥風險与坑坑，尤其是在印度。但公司若不冒險，利從何來？
印度市场的战略价值毋庸置疑，但战略耐心不意味无限容忍。对以审慎著称的新航而言，这或许才是真正的考验：如何在不被“折翼”的前提下，等待这只印度巨鹰重新起飞。
完
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