To describe the early 40s as a unique period in Indian history would be an understatement. World War II was raging, Britain was valiantly holding on against the Nazis, the Japanese were marauding in the seas of Southeast Asia, Chiang Kai-shek was battling them with US supplies airdropped from India, Burma had fallen and it … Continue reading Delhi during the Partition
Should the Kohinoor be returned to India? Doesn’t the Rosetta Stone rightly belong to the Egyptians? The Elgin Marbles – the highlight of the British museum – should be reinstalled in the Parthenon, right? What are the Egyptian mummies doing in the British Museum? And why aren’t the Benin bronzes returned? These are all fraught … Continue reading Museums and Repatriation
We live in a world that places a premium on creativity. Companies expect their employees to be creative, parents want their children to become creative, mayors want to convert their cities to creative hubs, translators want to be acknowledged for their creative skills and artists strive to express their unique visions through creative work. But … Continue reading The Cult of Creativity
Thomas Hobbes, was born in the year of the Spanish Armada and lived through the English Civil War. When Charles I lost his head, he lived in exile in France and only returned after the monarchy was restored under Charles II. (I had written a bit about this period here). To understand his political philosophy, … Continue reading The Narrow Corridor, the Cage of Norms and the Red Queen Effect
The invention of the shipping container as a mode of transport by Malcolm McLean is considered to be a watershed moment in the history of global trade and logistics. By standardizing the size of the container (most are eight feet wide, eight and a half feet high and forty feet long), shipping became efficient and … Continue reading Once Upon a Time in Bengal
Most of the iconic structures of Bombay were built by the profits from the cotton trade. To understand this, one needs to grasp how cotton emerged as the key commodity driving imperialists, plantation owners and bankers for almost three hundred years. Columbus’ discovery of America and Vasco da Gama’s discovery of the sea route to … Continue reading The Empire of Cotton
China used more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the U.S. used in the entire 20th Century. Yes, you heard that right! Now, with this knowledge, it’s not unnatural to imagine China importing lots of crude oil, heavy machinery or vehicles. But the fact is that China’s largest category of imports is an entirely unrelated category … Continue reading The Chip Wars
I grew up in the United Arab Emirates where the falcon is the national bird. It’s on the national emblem and hence an ubiquitous sight on stamps, official documents, government buildings etc. If you spend considerable time in the Middle East, it’s not uncommon to come across an Arab with a menacing falcon perched on … Continue reading Falconry and the Arabs
Today, almost every great power has a monument commemorating the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - to honor the men and women who laid down their lives in the service of their nation. Ever wondered why you’ve never ever come across the tomb of the unknown Marxist, the unknown Libertarian or the unknown chicken-tikka lover? … Continue reading The Nation as an Imagined Community
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
