What I Watched – February 2025
Mark Twain: After reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this two-part documentary by Ken Burns helped etch Twain’s life in my mind. The discovery that he travelled extensively within India was the...
View ArticleGauguin and van Gogh’s Ear
The meme below was undoubtedly the funniest one I came across after the assassination attempt on Trump last year. It’s a clever riff on van Gogh’s self-portrait soon after he chopped his ear with a...
View ArticleThe Market-Friendly Dharma of Buddhism
During my previous visit to Dharamshala, an amusing sight that caught my attention was a group of Buddhist monks, red-robed, sporting Nike sneakers, sipping cappuccinos and completely immersed in their...
View ArticleThe Tempest
Shakespeare’s play of a magician conjuring up a storm and bringing together a group of men to his island—his mastery over a native, a compliant spirit, and a daughter who is ‘made’ to fall in love with...
View ArticlePeak, End, and Exit: Daniel Kahneman’s Last Decision
I’ve read a ton of books on psychology over the past five years, and I’ve hardly come across a single work that doesn’t make a reference or has a quote from Daniel Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’....
View ArticleThe Timeless Relevance of Hadji Murad
Forty years after his deployment in the Caucasus, Tolstoy wrote Hadji Murad, based on a real-life figure, over an eight-year period. Published posthumously, it is often regarded as one of the greatest...
View ArticleGirard’s Scapegoat Mechanism and the Mahabharata
In the fable of the 'Fox and the Sour Grapes', the disappointed fox walks away at the end. He does this only because he is alone. Had there been a few more foxes salivating over the grapes, walking...
View ArticleBhuj Notes
I visited Bhuj for the first time earlier this week. The first thing that struck me was the barren landscape, the hardy Mesquite trees, herds of goats and gaushalas – each a testament to a land shaped...
View ArticleWhat I Watched – March 2025
The Brutalist: I wonder if this was the longest movie that I’ve ever watched in a cinema. The movie was good but not great. After a month, thinking about it, only Felicity Jones’ character comes to my...
View ArticleThe Merchant of Venice
Was Shakespeare an antisemite? Many argue that his portrayal of Shylock in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is proof that he was one. Shylock the Jew is a money lender who demands a pound of flesh from...
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