A Digital Garden of Things That Interest Me
I finished Andrew Roberts’ "Napoleon: A Life"and have been constantly thinking about the extraordinary life that he led. If there ever was a person who could be described as ‘self-made’, it must be him. He was born in 1769 in Corsica, an island that had only recently come under French control after centuries of Genoese … Continue reading Napoleon’s Extraordinary Life in 9 Bullets
The last stop of the trip was Paris. As this was my second visit to the city, I can now conclude that Paris is undoubtedly one of the greatest cities of the world. The urban infrastructure, heritage structures, Haussmannian boulevards and the exceptional food make the place vibrant in a remarkable sense. The number of … Continue reading Paris Notes
I knew Lyon was the gastronomical capital of France. But after landing there, I also learnt that in addition to being the location from where Caeser launched his campaign against the Gauls, it was also the nerve center of the Resistance movement during the Nazi occupation of France. One reason for this was also its … Continue reading Lyon Notes
Alistair Horne’s magisterial ‘A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-62’ is a masterpiece and has been a gripping read so far. The Algerians never had a national identity until the beginning of their discontent with the French. The land was ruled by the Carthaginians for seven centuries who were then replaced by the Romans, the … Continue reading ‘A Savage War of Peace’ – The Roots of the Algerian War
Some thoughts after finishing Tolstoy's War and Peace: The sheer number of aristrocatic parties and balls featured in the book was mind-boggling. The peasants and aam-aadmi perspectives are conspicuously absent. Tolstoy goes to great lengths to dismiss the 'Great Man of History' theory. For him, its sheer foolishness to describe historical events as grand narratives … Continue reading On War and Peace
In the early years of my career in development, one of the raging debates was about the glory and ethical principle of working in the ‘field’ against joining organizations that paid lip service to development. Looking back, all of it appears so juvenile; as if development was only about working in rural, remote settings and … Continue reading On Simone Weil
Over the weekend, I read the French political theorist Olivier Roy’s superb ‘Is Europe Christian?’ and was mighty impressed by his analysis and arguments. The transformations of Christianity since the time of Christ are well documented. Luther’s Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution during the Enlightenment, the separation of Church and State brought about by the … Continue reading Christianity in Europe Today
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