On Henri Bergson
At the height of his fame, Henri Bergson, was not just France’s leading philosopher but also arguably the most popular public intellectual of his age. His lectures were jam-packed and the audience cut...
View ArticleQueen Elizabeth – Quirky, Risqué and Moving Tales
Queen Elizabeth must be the only person on earth whose daily life was chronicled from the day of her birth until her death in 2023. And as the monarch of Britain, it’s mind boggling to imagine the...
View ArticleThe Three Languages of Politics
Arnold Kling’s ‘The Three Languages of Politics’ is a short, succinct and handy toolkit to categorize political communication. For Kling, the three dominant political groups – the Progressives (what we...
View ArticleThe European Influence on Hinduism
The uniqueness of Hinduism lies in its inability to be defined by a singular set of rituals, beliefs, or practices. Are Hindus vegetarians? Do Hindus sacrifice animals? Do all Hindus fast on specific...
View ArticleGuruvayoor Notes
Soon after landing in Calicut, my mother whisked me away to Guruvayoor. Visiting the temple town after seven years, travelling by auto, train and bus, was a memorable experience. The highlight was the...
View ArticleEliot’s Middlemarch and ChatGPT
The Kindle is great to read huge tomes. The ‘minutes remaining’ indicator for each chapter provides a reference point for the time needed to finish a book. Nothing like it to make slow and steady...
View ArticleBest Fiction – 2024
I know I should be reading more fiction. But the ones I picked up this year mostly turned out to be great ones. The best that I read this year (in no particular order): PachinkoI'm late to the party...
View ArticleBest Comics – 2024
My habit of buying one comic a week was more or less maintained through the year. Some of the standout ones that I encountered: Hakim's Odyssey:This French trilogy tracking the life story of Hakim - a...
View ArticleBest Non Fiction 2024
Some great non-fiction I read this year (in no particular order). The hyperlinks take you to my posts inspired by the book: We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and...
View ArticleBest Movies/Series – 2024
In no particular order: ChallengersZendaya's energy sizzles throughout in this ménage à trois story Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny:I've been watching all the Indiana Jones' movies with the kids....
View ArticleThiruvananthapuram Notes
I lived in Thiruvananthapuram from 2005 to '07 and also spent significant time in the city during the 2018 floods. This December, I found myself back in the city, accompanied by an entourage of 14...
View ArticleKollur Notes
On hearing that I was visiting Mookambika, a friend wondered if I was on some sort of pilgrimage. The answer to that was no. But here I was, at the Mookambika shrine, deep inside the rainforests of...
View ArticleFeminism in Domesticity
Norman Rush's 'Mating' was a complex, long read. A nameless female anthropologists razor sharp views on life, love and relationships set in the Kalahari during the Reagan era had some fantastic...
View ArticleWas Mary an ‘Intellectual’?
Zena Hitz in ‘Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life’ offers a fascinating exploration of whether Mary was an intellectual. An ancient Syriac dialogue between Joseph and Mary...
View ArticleThe Real Costs of Chernobyl and Fukushima
Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain’s 'World Without End' – a comic about Climate Change that outsold Asterix in France in the year of its launch was a sharp, engaging introduction to Energy...
View ArticleShtisel
I just finished watching Season 1 of Shtisel—the hit Israeli series. The show revolves around the lives of a large Orthodox Jewish family. The Haredi Jews are an ultra-Orthodox sect that shuns most...
View ArticleOn War and Peace
Some thoughts after finishing Tolstoy's War and Peace: The sheer number of aristrocatic parties and balls featured in the book was mind-boggling. The peasants and aam-aadmi perspectives are...
View ArticleTolstoy, the Toxic Husband
For someone who was arguably one of the world’s greatest observers of love, emotions, and human sensitivity, Tolstoy’s record as a husband was abysmally poor. His lust and exploits before marriage led...
View ArticleThe French Language in ‘War and Peace’
While planning to read War and Peace, the initial challenge was zeroing down on the version to be read. While I settled for the Anthony Briggs translation, one of the criteria by which other versions...
View ArticleWhat I Watched – January 2025
It’s a New Year and probably a good time to get started on some new projects. I decided to be a bit more mindful of the content that I consume. So, here we go with the stuff that I watched this month:...
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