A Digital Garden of Things That Interest Me
The SDG Index of India was published last week. If you’re curious about India, the report provides a fascinating peek into the progress that India has made across each goal. The report has an exhaustive breakdown of the various indicators under each goal. Some of the indicators which I didn’t expect to see were: number … Continue reading The SDGs & Best Things First
I’m the person who is generally unmoved when I read about the ‘looming climate apocalypse’, the probabilities of an asteroid collision with the earth or say, a future pandemic. I’ve always been a rational optimist when it comes to human progress and the belief in man’s ingenuity. Despite this, I was shaken, spent a few … Continue reading Nuclear Armageddon
Last week, a friend of mine who’s relocating abroad, shared a predicament of his. He has a Jamini Roy in his collection which cannot be shipped to his new residence. It was only then that I got to know about the Government of India-designated list of Nine Gems whose works are classified as National Treasures. … Continue reading National Treasures
I read Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’ over the weekend. His work, which examines the impact of Social Media on Gen Z, didn’t have too many ideas that I wasn’t already familiar with. The rise of social media coupled with the introduction of the dual camera in smartphones was the pivot that marked the rise … Continue reading Hikikomori
In the 17th century, coins in England were regularly ‘clipped’ to siphon off the gold and silver. When penalties failed to curb the practice, the Crown decided to accept and demonetize all circulating coins irrespective of their quality. Since the quantity of gold to mint new coins was higher than what was collected from the … Continue reading The Door and Window Tax
Rob Henderson, the psychologist and writer grew up in nine different homes before his eighth birthday. He was born to an unwed drug junkie who died when he was three. His childhood, as described in his memoir ‘Troubled’ was typical of orphans growing up in foster homes in the US – abuse, neglect, teen gangs, … Continue reading Luxury Beliefs
While reading Brian Klaas’ Fluke, I came across the fascinating mental model of ‘Complex Adaptive Systems’. This post is going to be slightly jargon heavy. Please bear with me. A watch is a complicated system of engineering. However, if you remove one spring, the watch won't morph into an unpredictable entity. Its behavior can be … Continue reading Complex Adaptive Systems
I’ve always been enamored of the power of modern medicine to stamp out diseases from the face of the earth. But when you think of it, we’ve only done that with one disease: smallpox. And therein lies a great puzzle: Why didn’t we succeed with the others. Can we? Should we? (ChatGPT informed me that … Continue reading Disease Eradication vs. Strengthening Health Systems
Sustainability is all about doing things in such a way that the impact on the environment is minimal so that future generations suffer less. Most well-meaning folks focus on the second aspect, about reducing environmental impact to the bare minimum without bothering about the moral imperative of ensuring a decent life for the humans alive … Continue reading Becoming a ‘Sustainable Generation’
I got my ten-year-old daughter vaccinated against HPV yesterday. The vaccine is now also part of the Universal Immunization Programme of the Government of India. SII’s CERVAVAC is a four-strain vaccine while Merck’s GARDASIL-9 is a nine strain one with a price difference of almost 6x. GARDASIL is recommended by Merck as a three-shot vaccine … Continue reading HPV Vaccination