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 across all classes and gender. Bergson, is most known for his concept of time which he called Durée. For Bergson, the qualitative … Continue reading On Henri Bergson
Yesterday, I was at the Chandigarh Secretariat of the Government of Punjab. The structure, an iconic landmark of the city, is also one of the best representations of Brutalism - the minimalist architectural style emphasizing functional designs employing raw materials like exposed concrete. While much of the interior has been redesigned and repurposed, the staircase … Continue reading A ‘Brutal’ pic
Had it not been for the bombing of Hiroshima, Richard Flanagan would never have been born. The bomb led to Japan’s surrender. His father, a POW, who would never have survived another winter in Japan, was released and years later, Flanagan was born. His reckoning with this absurd fact is the kernel for his genre-defining … Continue reading Question 7
The coastal districts of Odisha are often the Ground Zero of the ferocious cyclones that originate in the Bay of Bengal. But what was once a destructive phenomenon has now been tamed by the state thanks to a comprehensive, community-centric cyclone preparedness initiative that began twenty-five years ago. Last week, I spent a few days … Continue reading Balasore, Bhadrak Notes
At the turn of the seventeenth century, Bruno was burnt at the stake for expanding Copernicus’ heliocentric theory and proposing that the universe was infinite with multiple stars and galaxies all around. In the span of one hundred years, kings were no longer seen as divine ambassadors of God, science progressed organically culminating in Newton’s … Continue reading The Seventeenth Century – The Age of Genius
When I was in college, the roll call for attendance used to be exasperating for the profs as we had a Balaji Kartik, a Karthik and a Balaji Subramaniam in class. For me, nothing better exemplified the sway of Murugan in Tamil Nadu. Even for Keralites, Pazhani – the abode of Murugan is a revered … Continue reading Karthik/Murugan/Skanda/…
The Tughlaqs are seen as a relatively minor dynasty that ruled India from Delhi. But when you think of it, their 90-year reign from 1320 was greater than the age of the modern Indian Republic. Today, all that reminds us of their grandeur are their monuments still standing in various corners of Delhi and of … Continue reading Tughlaqabad
In the late 17th century, with scientific discoveries being the flavour of the season, Spinoza had already propounded his idea of God. Into this vibrant mix of new scientific thinking and philosophical daring entered Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. If there’s one person who can be defined as a polymath in the truest sense, it is Leibniz. … Continue reading ‘We Must Cultivate Our Own Garden’ for this is not the ‘Best of All Possible Worlds’
The most dramatic moment in the history of philosophy must be Socrates being forced to drink hemlock. If one is asked to pick another moment that could rank high on drama, my submission would be Spinoza’s excommunication in 1656 by the Jewish community of Amsterdam. Spinoza’s parents landed up in the Netherlands after fleeing Spain … Continue reading Spinoza’s God
So many of the gastronomical delights of our modern life would be impossible without modern refrigeration. Cheeseburgers, chilled beer, ice cream and of course all the imported exotic items like Norwegian salmon, Swiss cheese and Australian beef would have just remained local delicacies restricted to a few 100 kilometers from their point of origin had … Continue reading Our Refrigerated World
