I stumbled on this book in the manner in which one stumbles on other stuff these days: partly offline, partly online. Perhaps, one could call it “hybrid”, to borrow a word that is typically used in other contexts.
… Continue reading “Re-injecting Anthropology With Fresh Purpose”
Illusions Fostered by Primates
Vivek Nityananda is an entomologist by profession. He studied katydids and their secretive communication methods, the wing rustling among leaves that eluded human ears. Somewhere along the way, his academic curiosity strayed from the natural world into a distinctly human phenomenon: overconfidence.
… Continue reading “Overconfidence Unmasked: An Entomologist Explores Human Self-Deception”
Vishal Vasanthakumar didn’t love school. Later as a teacher, he keenly observed parents’ faces. Whether they wheeled pushcarts or drove Mercedes-Benzes, their expressions radiated a similar mix of yearning and optimism. Formal schooling, they believed,
… Continue reading “The Education Mirage: Unanswered Questions in India’s Schools”
Swimming Against Tradition
Sonam Samat’s father was keen that his daughter pursue an education and acquire new-age like skills like swimming. Rather than hovering over stovetops, stirring dhals and puffing up rotis like most women in his generation.
… Continue reading “Whisking Wisdom: A Journey from Theory to Taste”
From MOOCs to Marigolds
In a marketplace ablaze with the sounds and furies of India’s most cacophonous festival – Ganesha Chaturti – a saree-clad, bespectacled woman briskly strides through. She stops at a stall that packs row upon row of Ganeshas,
… Continue reading “Vasanthi Srinivasan: Shaping the Nation’s Future Leaders”
Bridget Jones broke a certain stereotype. That romcom protagonists must be, by default, somewhat put together. Till then, they were often fiercely intelligent, sparkly with words, discerning, virtuous et al, till Jones swept into our cultural lenses with her endearingly human,
At this point, planetary problems can feel too staggering to confront. The climate clock seems to be ticking towards an apocalyptic future, wars rage in Ukraine and Gaza, social media lures soporific users into seductive reel-tunnels.
… Continue reading “Growing Up as Grown-Ups: Cultivating Leaders to Navigate Complexity”
Madhu Gupta and Seema Chaudhry have much in common. For one thing, they attend the same college. They live in old Delhi, in shabby apartments, reached by dim stairways. They stem from conservative, working class families.
Yadav’s Father: A Creative Tinkerer
Anusha Yadav was raised in a home that prized culture, creativity and hands-on tinkering. Moving across continents, from the UK – where her father studied for his PhD and taught at King’s College,
… Continue reading “Braiding Time: Journeying with Anusha Yadav Across Cultures and Memories”
There have been many attempts to both analyze and historicize the Indian middle class. Works by Pavan Varma (The Great Indian Middle Class, 1998) and Aseem Prakash (The Indian Middle Class,
… Continue reading “Everyday Reading: Uncovering Middle-Class Musings”
Navigating Disparate Worlds
MD Ramaswami, known affectionately as MD among friends and family, learned early that exceptional communication skills could reap extraordinary dividends. Belonging to an era when the nation still suffered from a colonial hangover,
… Continue reading “From Curiosity to Conquests: The Myriad Adventures of MD Ramaswami”
In a House of Few Frills
Giri’s stickiest childhood memories revolve around his grandfather. In an era sans gadgets or even a television, Aaja would teach him this and that. Even discuss passages from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice,
… Continue reading “The Man Who Multiplied Value: Giri Giridhar’s Corporate Journey”
From The King’s Table to Street Food, as Pushpesh Pant acknowledges in his Preface, is not just a history of Delhi embedded with recipes and foodies stories. Nor is it a food book,
… Continue reading “Savoring Time: A Taste of Delhi from Royal Kitchens to Street Vendors”
In her previous work, Kaikeyi, Vaishnavi Patel had dwelt on the point of view of a much maligned character in the Ramayana. Unsurprisingly, or perhaps not coincidentally, that character was a woman.
… Continue reading “Ganga Unbound: A Feminist Take on an Ancient Epic”
With the next US election a few days away, you would be hard put to find an expert who can be persuasively certain about the outcome. Despite all the data crunching and AI smarts, uncertainty shadows our lives,
Chasing Authenticity In Staged Spaces
Along with other vanishings – of biospecies, languages, cultures – modernity ushers an erasure of authenticity. Tourism, originally fashioned for aristocratic young men from Europe, has morphed into a global ritual that has seeped across classes.
Like Happiness begins with a New Yorky scene. One that captures the stickiness and muck and strangely alluring grit of its subway rides. But also the forced physical proximity to performers whose music and moves are edged with aggressive asks.
… Continue reading “Like Happiness: The Mirage of Connection in a Post #MeToo Era”
Widows outnumber widowers. The reasons? Many men remarry, and historically, more men have died in wars. Moreover, as Mineke Schipper notes in Widows, 10% of widows today live in extreme poverty, underscoring the vulnerability braided into widowhood.
… Continue reading “Widowhood, Oppression and Acts of Resistance”
Culinary Soul Search
In October 2015, Siddharth Kapila decided to quit his law career. He wanted to travel, find himself, engaging in seemingly care-free acts that only the reasonably well-off can consider. He was aware too of how these choices were girded by privilege.
… Continue reading “Tasting the Divine: Exploring One’s Faith Along The Ganga”
Loneliness Breeds Polarization
Loneliness might not just be an American scourge anymore, but could be seeping into other societies. Teens and aging parents can feel lonely inside families, just as partners might feel adrift inside marriages.
… Continue reading “From Isolation to Illumination: Leveraging Human Connection”
Brinda S. Narayan
