I thought that the 250th anniversary celebrations may be a good time to read up on the Revolution and get a better handle on the event. Gordon S. Wood’s ‘The American Revolution: A History’ and the great Ken Burns’ 12 hour, six-episode documentary which came out last year were two excellent points to start. Despite … Continue reading The American Revolution
My friend Dr. Shahjahan Avadi, an Air Force veteran and Disaster Management professional has been instrumental in bringing the Air Force Museum into the heritage-walk calendar of INTACH. While I couldn’t attend his previous walks, I did manage to attend the one he organized this Sunday. The Air Force museum contrary to my expectation, had … Continue reading Indian Air Force Museum, Palam
Ethnic violence, the Resource Curse and civil wars are often quoted to explain the development deficit in Africa. But a relatively little-known factor that can explain Africa’s position today is its historically low population density and its eventual role in facilitating the slave trade . Africa was historically a chronically underpopulated continent. In 1900, the … Continue reading How Population Scarcity Shaped Africa
Seven years ago, I tried to read this but abandoned it after a few pages as I knew next to nothing about the political context in which the book was set. This time, with some information about the Risorgimento, I tackled the book and can confirm it lives up to its tag of a ‘masterpiece’ … Continue reading Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’
Romila Thapar’s ‘History of India’, published in 1966 begins with: For many Europeans, India evoked a picture of Maharajas, snake-charmers, and the rope-trick. This has lent both allure and romanticism to things Indian. The introduction of photography in India in the 1840s coincided with a critical phase of British colonial expansion and consolidation. What emerged … Continue reading Photography and the Colonial Gaze
Hardly a week goes by without my reading at least one piece from The New Yorker. Its long-form journalism and the sheer breadth of its coverage—from global wars and haute couture to fiction and cinema—have always been a magnet for me, along with that unmistakable, one-of-a-kind font that makes every page instantly recognizable. Netflix has … Continue reading An Ode to The New Yorker
Errol Morris’ documentary on the life of John le Carre – The Pigeon Tunnel was a peek into the life of the probably the greatest spy novelist of all time. After watching it, I revisited my notes from his 2016 memoir of the same name, which I read three years back. The title refers to … Continue reading The Pigeon Tunnel
One of the most mind-boggling statistics that I’ve ever come across in all my reading was the one by Vaclav Smil on China’s cement consumption: In 2018 and 19, China produced nearly as much cement (about 4.4 billion tons) as did the United States during the entire 20th century (4.5 billion tons) Let that sink … Continue reading Impressions on China from Wang’s ‘Breakneck’
Last week, I attended a heritage walk in Old Delhi exploring the Thugs of India, organized by Gaurav Sharma from India Heritage Trails. After the walk, I picked up Mike Dash’s ‘Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult’ and learnt quite a bit about this lesser known period of our history. Bandits and highway … Continue reading The Thugs of Hindustan
Julius Caesar (1970): I’ve been on a Roman history reading project for a month. This 1970 star-studded movie was a faithful adaptation of the play. But, the whole Roman setting and the costumes made it a bit too ‘period’ for my taste. Antony and Cleopatra: As in Julius Caesar, Charlton Heston also essays the role … Continue reading What I Watched – August 2025
