After watching all of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10 movies, here’s my ranking: There Will be Blood One Battle After Another Licorice Pizza Boogie Nights Phantom Thread Magnolia Hard Eight The Master Punch Drunk Love Inherent Vice And the greatest scene across all his films should be this unforgettable three minute masterclass by Julianne Moore in … Continue reading Paul Thomas Anderson Movies Ranked
After reading up on the Islamic Revolution, I was on the lookout for something to watch and chanced upon this documentary titled: Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution. The 90 minute documentary chronicles the evolution of Iranian cinema beginning from the reign of the Shah till the early aughts when the theocracy was firmly in power. The … Continue reading Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution
I spent the Eid weekend, revisiting the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Scott Anderson’s ‘King of Kings: The Fall of the Shah and the Revolution That Forged Modern Iran’ and Ryszard Kapuscinski’s ‘Shah of Shahs’ (which I’m revisting after 15 years) are good primers about the revolution. Over the last two years, seeing the protests of … Continue reading The 1979 Islamic Revolution
To him, Plath was ‘Laurentian’, not ‘women’s lib’ – that is, a disciple of D. H. Lawrence’s sexually liberated creative philosophy, not a campaigner for women’s rights. This line in Heather Clarke’s highly engrossing biography of Sylvia Plath, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, stumped me. I had no clue … Continue reading Laurentian Feminism
I’ve always been sceptical of the nostalgia and sentimentality associated with bygone eras and yesteryears. But despite this, each and every time I step into an Indian railway platform, a wave of memories washes over me. There were the childhood journeys from Bombay to Kozhikode in the pre-Konkan era, the Madras Mail to Salem, the … Continue reading A Paean to the Indian Railways
SPIC-MACAY's 'Music in the Park' featured a short concert by Sanjay this evening: Siddhi Vinayakane in Kalavati Swati Tirunal's 'Mama Vasada' in Kanada. For me, the greatest version of this is the one on YouTube sung by Sanjay himself. What he sang today didnt match up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HghCTxh9p0Y&list=RDHghCTxh9p0Y&start_radio=1 Parama Pavana in Purvi Kalyani Amma Yashoda in … Continue reading Sanjay Subrahmanyan at Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri
The World Health Organization (WHO) historically considered a C-section rate of 10–15% as an approximate threshold. Over the past three decades, however, the global prevalence of Caesarean deliveries has risen sharply, tripling from about 7% in the early 1990s to roughly 20–21% today. A number of countries stand out as clear outliers: Turkey reports rates … Continue reading The C-Section Boom
Julian Barnes was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, weeks before the world was preparing to lock down in 2020. The cancer was a manageable version and last year, Barnes wrote his last book, aptly titled ‘Departure(s)’. The book’s structure was experimental. Why wouldn’t it be when one is writing and trying to … Continue reading Barnes’ ‘Departure(s)’
Ethnic violence, the Resource Curse and civil wars are often quoted to explain the development deficit in Africa. But a relatively little-known factor that can explain Africa’s position today is its historically low population density and its eventual role in facilitating the slave trade . Africa was historically a chronically underpopulated continent. In 1900, the … Continue reading How Population Scarcity Shaped Africa
In the 1960s, the discovery and development of Europe’s largest natural gas field in the Netherlands triggered an unexpected structural shift in the Dutch economy. The surge in export revenues brought in large inflows of foreign currency, leading to an appreciation of the Dutch guilder. A stronger currency made Dutch manufactured goods more expensive in … Continue reading The Dutch Disease
