St. Helena is an island in the middle of nowhere. Being situated in the direct line of the South East Trade Winds, it was just a matter of time for it to be discovered in the 16th century. For that was when the Portuguese began crossing the Cape of Good Hope on their way to … Continue reading Saint Helena and its two iconic residents
As I had written earlier, I began the year with John Cheever’s Journals. I’ve never read any of his works before and only knew him as the master chronicler of the American suburban life. ‘Chekov of the suburbs' was how the literary world tagged him. After reading his journals, I now see him as someone … Continue reading Excerpts from Cheever’s Journals
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russell Russel’s quote is something that I often think about each time I spend time reading stuff that I barely understand and more importantly that is of no practical use. When Dave Edmonds biography of the philosopher Derek Parfit started getting rave reviews, I decided … Continue reading Parfit
Few of us realize how narrowly India missed experiencing the horrors of the Second World War. Japan wreaked havoc all across Southeast Asia and it was a miracle that we managed to hold them off at Kohima. After their capitulation, the Allied Powers wasted no time in setting up the Tokyo Trials, taking inspiration from … Continue reading The Tokyo Trials and India’s Radhabinod Pal
We live in an age of dwindling attention spans. The rise of Instagram and the clickbaity nature of the links that we encounter each day is proof of this. The advice given to every aspiring writer is to catch the readers attention before they wander away and to cleverly deploy images to mold their opinions. … Continue reading Beyond the Lamp: Florence Nightingale’s Statistical Legacy
Lepidopterology. What a beautiful word. In case you don't know, it refers to the study of butterflies. Earlier today, I chanced upon the philosopher Nigel Warburton’s piece on the aesthetic case for butterfly preservation – a quirky short piece that got me thinking of the most famous lepidopterologist of all time – Nabokov. I began … Continue reading Butterfly connections
Over the past decade, I’ve managed to read 80-100 books every year. Being someone who always felt that reading was just an interesting way of wasting time, I never felt the pull to write, share, discuss, explain or debate the content that I came across. During the pandemic, I discovered the geeky world of digital … Continue reading One Year of Blogging
