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
2023 New Year’s Eve began with me rushing my little one to the Emergency department after she was scratched by a stray cat at home. Snowy, the culprit, has been a regular at our home in Kozhikode since the pandemic and has been very pally with my girls. I’ve never been fond of cats. For … Continue reading Feline Encounters of 2023
I started collecting comics sometime in 2018, got slightly serious in 2019 and then got stonewalled by the pandemic. Thankfully, in 2023, I managed to be more disciplined. (The plan is to begin a lending library dedicated to comics. So if you’re in Delhi and interested in exploring comics and graphic novels , do get … Continue reading Best Comics of 2023
Some of the best Non-Fiction (in no particular order) I read this year: The Moral Case of Fossil Fuels (blogged earlier) A Conflict of Visions- Thomas Sowell (blogged earlier) The Untethered Soul - Michael Singer. I've read a lot of books on zen/spirituality/meditation/CBT. But Singer's book still made me nod my head in agreement. The … Continue reading Best Non Fiction of 2023
I haven’t been reading much fiction since the pandemic and this is something that I should remedy in 2024. Most of what I picked this year was good. The ones that stood out for me (in no particular order): Age of Vice by - Deepti Kapur (blogged earlier) I'm a Fan - Sheena Patel (blogged … Continue reading Best fiction books of 2023
