In my line of work (development), I often come across stalwarts. The defining feature of a stalwart, in most cases, is a grand narrative arc that explains their lives. There’s drama, chance encounters, promotions, higher studies, periods of wilderness, feathers in their caps and a culmination in the position they find themselves in today. If … Continue reading Beware of the ‘Life as Narrative’ motif
The ‘Out of Eden’ Walk
We don’t walk much these days. I mean, humans as a species. With the rise of modern transportation and our frenzied lifestyles, our sense of space and the time needed to cover vast distances has also been lost. Rahul Gandhi, in his Bharat Jodo Yatra managed to cover an average of 25kms over 4 months … Continue reading The ‘Out of Eden’ Walk
Understanding ‘Awesomeness’
Philosophers have a nice skill of taking a random emotion or a word and then analyzing it in the form of a book. The Oxford University Press has a seven-volume series covering the Seven Sins, Agnes Callard wrote about Aspiration, Annie Duke on Quitting, de Botton on Love and so on and so forth. Nick … Continue reading Understanding ‘Awesomeness’
The Magdalene Laundries of Ireland
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Magdalene laundries were institutions established by the Catholic Church to ‘take care’ of fallen women, prostitutes and orphaned girls. Over time, they became notorious for widespread torture of the inmates. It’s estimated that close to 30,000 women were forced to labor in these institutions. Many children (mostly infants) lost … Continue reading The Magdalene Laundries of Ireland
Three stories to understand ‘reality’
I’m midway through David Chalmers' "Reality+" and I’m happy to report that I haven’t understood much of it! Chalmers' fundamental question is : “Are we all living in a simulation?” While he’s written a whole book to explain his arguments, I found his opening examples to introduce his framework of inquiry quite captivating. For Chalmers, … Continue reading Three stories to understand ‘reality’
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
I spent last weekend with Alex Epstein’s 2014 “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels’ and his recent 2020 work “Fossil Future”. However controversial his defense of fossil fuels may be, I must admit that his whole approach had a convincing ring. With a background in philosophy, Epstein frames the whole debate using the concept of … Continue reading The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
Hanif Kureishi’s Courage
Over the past two years, I’ve taught myself a lot of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques as part of my coaching practice and have used it frequently to explain the root causes of anxiety and fear. But it’s one thing to often see anxieties around work and existence and another thing to see someone face … Continue reading Hanif Kureishi’s Courage
RS Nilakantan’s “South vs North”
When one spends (wastes?) a lot of time on Twitter, one generally ends up looking forward to the tweets of specific handles for the freshness they bring in. Nilakantan RS has been one such handle. So when he had a book out, I had to pick it up. Contrary to what the title (South vs … Continue reading RS Nilakantan’s “South vs North”
On Greek Shipping
That Jacqueline Kennedy married a Greek called Aristotle Onassis was known to me. That Onassis was a Greek shipping tycoon was known to me. That the probability of a shipping tycoon being Greek is pretty high was unknown to me - until last month. While reading the investigative thriller 'Dead in the Water', I came … Continue reading On Greek Shipping
The Age of Vice
It’s just the 20th of January and I think I’ve already read one of the best books of the year. The main protagonist of Deepti Kapoor’s ‘Age of Vice’ is Delhi. The Delhi of the aughts, the Delhi when Gurgaon, Noida and Greater Noida were yet to become the monstrous suburbs as we know it … Continue reading The Age of Vice
