During the last thirty years of the 18th century, the most feared adversary of the British was undoubtedly the father-son duo of Mysore – Haider Ail and Tipu Sultan. Looking back, its fascinating to imagine the international influence that the two wielded. The Anglo-Mysore wars were keenly tracked by the French and going the Machiavellian … Continue reading Tipu’s Tiger
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’
So many of Marilyn Monroe’s photographs are iconic. The one shot during the shoot of ‘The Seven Year Itch’ - in which her white dress billows up with the wind is probably the most famous picture of her. Her centerpiece appearance in the inaugural issue of Playboy in 1953 is also another popular one for … Continue reading Marilyn Monroe’s Literary Odyssey
The 1930s was a remarkable decade for Indian writing in English. Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable and R.K. Narayan’s Swamy and Friends were published in 1935 and Raja Rao’s Kanthapura followed in 1938 – a year before WWII. Last month, I picked up Raja Rao for the first time and tackled Kanthapura, The Cat and Shakespeare … Continue reading Raja Rao
Joe Studwell’s ‘How Asia Works’ is a seminal work examining the different trajectories adopted by the Asian countries in the aftermath of the Second World War. India doesn’t figure in the scope of this work. The focus is mainly on Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea), South East Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam) and of course China. Studwell … Continue reading How Asia Works
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
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
