I read Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’ over the weekend. His work, which examines the impact of Social Media on Gen Z, didn’t have too many ideas that I wasn’t already familiar with. The rise of social media coupled with the introduction of the dual camera in smartphones was the pivot that marked the rise … Continue reading Hikikomori
Kyoto was the first choice as the target for the atomic bomb during World War II. It was an industrial center, had production capabilities of close to four hundred aircraft engines a month, and was an intellectual center of Japan. Hitting it was calculated to deal a body blow to Japanese morale. However, at the … Continue reading The Pacific Theatre in WWII
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
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
A friend of mine spent the previous two years in Penang as part of an international consortium in the business of designing and fabricating semiconductor units. Being an avid sketcher and a photographer, I got to see glimpses of the city through his posts and updates. Though I knew next to nothing about the place … Continue reading Discovering Penang (through books, how else!)
Manish Mohandas 