Occupying the Last Bench
Sriram recalls growing up with a strong, independent streak. Even as a toddler in Bhopal, where he lived for the first six years of his life, he was fetched from school by an auto driver,
… Continue reading “Journeying to One’s Ikigai: A Founder’s Story”
Yellowface might represent a striving author’s fantasy. Especially in the contemporary era, when there seem to be more writers than readers; when only a lucky few climb to bestselling lists or are feted at literary festivals,
… Continue reading “Satirizing Publishing and American Race Relations”
A recent Instagram post claimed that many writers or readers have, at some point or the other, harbored a certain dream: of running a bookstore-cum-cafe. After all, the enterprise is imbued with a romantic whimsy,
Many readers might be understandably turned off by any book title that contains words like “existential” or “post-modern” or “post-structural.” After all these terms summon certain stereotypical images: of smoky cafes filled with garrulous intellectuals,
Kirti Poonia is a new mom. Teer, her five-month-old son, occasionally pops into our Zoom conversation. Understandably, she worries about his future. With climate change already sweeping into our shores in various forms – more intense wildfires in Canada,
A Journey Around My Room was first published in French, in 1794. Its author introduced a world – that was then taken in by the fantastical accounts of sea voyagers like Ferdinand Magellan or Captain James Cook – to a new form of exploration: room travel.
As we’re nearing the end of Pride Month, I thought I would feature a book that I read awhile back and was enchanted by for many reasons. To be honest, I was looking for any Young Adult Romance – not necessarily LGBT-centered – but one that resonated with current teenage readers.
I’ve always been curious about how the Obamas tided over the Trump years when many of their attempts to change the social and political landscape were overturned. The Light We Carry offers some glimpses.
Angela Saini approaches the past with an engineer’s precision: foraging inside historical, archeological, and anthropological records for real glimmers of how things were. This is unsurprising. After all, she holds two Master’s degrees. One in Engineering from Oxford University and another in Science and Security from the Department of War Studies at King’s College,
The Drona Ekalavya story is familiar to many Indians. To reiterate the most commonly shared version, Ekalavya, who belongs to what was then considered a low-caste tribe, desperately wants to learn archery from Drona. The Guru however is forbidden from teaching him,
… Continue reading “A Modern Retelling of The Drona Ekalavya Story”
The Immortal King Rao is many things. It’s a bildungsroman for sure, graphing its narrator’s life, from her strange birth to her present predicament, where she claims to be unjustly imprisoned for a crime she did not commit.
Let’s start with what one might call a ‘fun fact.’ Or for the more ponderous folks, an origin story. Why is Mysore called Mysore? In the Netflix show on royal Indian kitchens, Raja, Rasoi aur Anya Kahaniyan,
… Continue reading “Founding an Inventive Travel Enterprise”
The Economists Turn To Hope
Across the globe, hope maybe a tricky emotion to summon. After all, we’re inundated with warnings about impending disasters: accelerating climate change, layoffs triggered by AI, new pandemics,
… Continue reading “Rekindling Hope With Economic and Social Policies”
Paul Bloom has achieved something that many academics might hanker for but rarely attain: popularity. Not just among students at the University – currently the University of Toronto, and earlier, for 21 years, Yale – at which he teaches,
From Living at a Hostel to Joining a Startup
Apaar Gupta spent his formative school years in a hostel. As a student of the Birla Public School at Pilani, he learned, early on,
… Continue reading “Forging A Digital Ecosystem For Creative Entrepreneurs”
An Academic Who Relishes Conversations
Paula Marantz Cohen is currently a Professor of English and the Dean of a college at Drexel University. Despite being deeply erudite, sharp and incisive in her writing,
Tessa West delves into a topic that anyone who has worked anywhere can relate to. Anyone who has had to deal with peers, subordinates and bosses. Because surely, at some point, in your career, you must have encountered a “jerk” – someone whose very presence at the office or team meeting provoked shudders,
Adrian Bejan: A Brief Dip into His Story
I rarely pick up books written by engineers. Time and Beauty is an exception. Though its author is not just an engineer, but a dauntingly accomplished one,
Engendering a Female Gaze: A Filmmaker’s Journey
A Syncretic Upbringing
Starting from her school years, Roohi Dixit had a proclivity for the arts. As the daughter of two professors, raised in an idyllic agricultural campus in Hisar,
… Continue reading “Engendering a Female Gaze: A Filmmaker’s Journey”
When Distraction Unites Us
Distraction, as most of us can attest, is a global pandemic. With the rapid digitization of terrains that were earlier outside the radar of technology giants, attention deficits cut across demographics: age,
… Continue reading “Struggling To Focus? So Did Medieval Monks”
A Personal Connection to The King and I
When Priscilla Gilman watched a Broadway version of The King and I, a particular song felt like a gut punch.
Experiencing Burnout
Five years ago, Divya Khanna was afflicted by a malaise that might be familiar to Indian corporate executives: burnout. In her book, The Company We Keep, she says that she felt overwhelmed and undervalued.
… Continue reading “Exploring the Makeup of Indian Corporate Culture”
Growing Up in a Turbulent Region
Born in Muzaffarnagar in the mid-1980s, Gauri Malik grew up in a region beset by turmoil. After all, since the 20th Century, Muzaffarnagar hasn’t had a sterling reputation.
… Continue reading “From Investment Banking To Founding a Social Venture”
A Portrait of Raj: A Young, Middle-class Indian Man
Raj, 24-years-old and a member of the Indian middle-class, hates auto drivers and woman drivers with equal fervor. He discourages his own sister from learning to drive,
… Continue reading “Unpacking Contradictions in Indian Masculinities”
As soon as I met Aryama Sen on a Zoom call, I was surprised. As a follower of her Instagram account, @ind.igenous, where she deliberately maintains anonymity, I was expecting someone older.
Staying Distinct on Social Media
Before delving into Aryama’s story,
Shanthamani Muddaiah is a highly-regarded, Bangalore-based artist whose works feature in local, national and international collections. Her creations are showcased by a range of collectors, including but not limited to Swiss Re (Bangalore), RMZ (Bangalore),
Deepa Purushothaman was elated. She had recently made it to partner at Deloitte, a global professional services firm. And she was celebrating with Walter, a friend from graduate school who had been similarly elevated at his law firm.
… Continue reading “An Unsettling Conversation Sparks off a Career Transition”
One of the fallouts of the pandemic originating in Wuhan, China has been an unfortunate spike in anti-Asian crimes in the UK, US and in other parts of the world. As Angela Hui notes in Takeaway,
… Continue reading “Growing up British Inside a Chinese Takeaway”
For those with a keen sense of smell, Chianti, a red wine hailing from Tuscany, evokes a distinct aroma in Bangalore. Smells are said to be more intimately connected to memories than other sensory experiences;
… Continue reading “Scaling an Italian Restaurant in an Indian City”
Couples fall in love for mysterious, ineffable reasons. We often hear that awkwardly suspended phrase – “What does she see in –?” or “How could they –?”, the pauses flashing with surprise and disapproval. But if the reasons for coupledom are hard to fathom,
This, to borrow a word from the title, is a gorgeous book. Gorgeous in the way Vuong’s words take flight, leaping from the light-filled memories of a child reading an ESL (English as a Second Language) storybook titled Thunder Cake to shockingly dark,
… Continue reading “A Poetic Take on Coming of Age in America”
On Chapel Sands was a book buried in my Kindle, bought soon after it came out, but lost among the digital detritus that clog my devices. Recently, while combing through an ever-mushrooming to-read list,
Having encountered a few of John Donne’s poems in high school – “Death be not proud” and “No Man is An Island” – I was recently tugged in by a YouTube conversation with a contemporary biographer.
A Thrilling Start To An Academic Life
As a child growing up in San Francisco in the 1970s, Zena Hitz had always loved reading. As did her older brother, and parents, with the family often engaging in fierce literary feuds that sparked off her lifelong zeal for learning.
… Continue reading “A Scholar Experiences Poverty At a Mid-life Break”
While our country has a colossal and overwhelmingly influential film industry, there is a surprising dearth of writers who turn a nuanced eye to the making of these films. Jai Arjun Singh, who also writes for The Mint,
At 50, Neeraj Sagar made a bold decision to quit his highly-regarded position as a Senior Partner at Egon Zehnder and strike out on his own. The driving force behind his new venture, WisdomCircle, is the belief that older generations have much to offer and should not be disregarded due to ageist biases.
… Continue reading “Harnessing the Wisdom of Older Generations: Insights from a Founder”
What Malls Might Signify in India
To those of us who grew up in Indian cities in the 60s, 70s, 80s or even 90s, shopping malls were unfamiliar spaces. Since then, there are perhaps few other spaces that are as ubiquitous,
For all who have taken to playing chess since The Queen’s Gambit. Or have reassessed their flippant dismissal of the aspirations that abide in Kamathipura since Gangubai Kathiawadi. Or to those who wonder about the historical forces that have led to far fewer female comedians since The Marvelous Mrs.
… Continue reading “Empowering Women With A TV Cooking Show”
When I stumbled on Ishani Roy’s profile on LinkedIn, I was fascinated for many reasons. For one thing, she had transited from a deep STEM career to a thorny human behavioural domain. After all, Roy had been passionate about Applied Mathematics,
… Continue reading “Championing Diverse and Inclusive Workplaces”
I must acknowledge straightaway that I was bowled over by this book. As someone who likes to describe myself as “curious”, I thought I knew what curiosity meant. And more significantly, what it felt like.
Richard Reeves needed courage of a sort to write this book. After all, in an age where women’s issues are often accented – the wage gaps, their inadequate presence in senior leadership roles or on Corporate Boards,
Remember Gone With the Wind?
Many Boomers and Gen Xers might recall watching Gone With the Wind. Clark Gable as Rhett Butler exuded a slick charm that epitomized the dark,
Philippe Gluckman, who has been the Creative Director for Dreamworks in India and the Visual Effects Supervisor for iconic hits like Shrek and Madagascar, offers invigorating lessons for those who want to break into animation or forge successful careers in a creative field.
… Continue reading “Creative Insights From a World Class Animator”
Have you ever wandered inside a zoo and wondered about animal talk? Do monkeys chatter with each other? What about birds, who according to recent research, are much smarter than we imagine? Better still, what if those creatures can talk to us?
When I first read Tim O’Brien’s novel-in-stories, The Things They Carried, I felt like I had been socked in the gut. His descriptions of soldierly feelings – the fatigue, the emotional depletion,
… Continue reading “Tim O’Brien’s Soldierly Reflections on the Vietnam War”
“Prem preet ya love l’amour” – From Chashme Buddoor (1981)
Chashme Buddoor was released in 1981. It was the pre-liberalization era. Most households did not own television sets.
… Continue reading “A Glimpse Into Deepti Naval’s Childhood”
At times, it’s fun to return to an old book. And the kind of book, that oddly enough, might be better understood by those that don’t read it. Or best understood by those that don’t read anything at all.
… Continue reading “Dipping Into Taoist Wisdom with Winnie the Pooh”
Large-scale disasters or pandemics give rise to unlikely outcomes. And even engender positive spinoffs. One of the offshoots was this book, sparked off by conversations between Bala Srinivasa and T.N. Hari, both deeply attuned to the entrepreneurial terrain in India,
… Continue reading “Tapping Into the Promise of Middle India”
It’s heartening when well-recognized national icons like Ravi Venkatesan reflect on their own life journeys and painstakingly mine nuggets of wisdom. After all, the kind of insights that Venkatesan offers can only be arrived at by those who traverse life stages with two selves: one being zealous and participatory,
I not only buy books, but I also watch others buy books. At bookstore checkouts, I’m intensely curious about the titles other customers choose. So recently, when I watched not one, but two Bangalore college students pick up “The Psychology of Money,” I was prodded into adding it to my list.
I’m back to riffing on a favorite song. While I realize that many in the younger generation might not have heard this ever, I hope at least a few Gen Xers and Baby Boomers can relate to the ‘80s hit: Summer of ’69 by the Canadian singer,
… Continue reading “Dwelling On The Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams”
At one point, Ashish Kothari seemed like someone who had it all. At 42, he had the kind of life that checked all social boxes. Professionally, he was a Partner at McKinsey. On the personal front,
When I stumbled on Sandeep Nair’s personal website, I was intrigued. He was as fascinated by the manner in which an illiterate, Irish lad became the Maharajah of Tipperary (in Haryana, in the 1700s) as he was in P&G’s advertising failures or in Zepto’s speedy deliveries.
… Continue reading “A Marketer Who Relishes Brand Building, History and Writing”
Games Invert Our Motivation
Usually, in everyday life, we do something in order to achieve some end. Like we might cook to create a delicious meal, or tidy our rooms to create a neat workspace.
… Continue reading “A Philosopher Uncovers The Artistry In Games”
It’s not easy to be funny. Honestly, it’s easier to scare audiences or to evoke their tears, than to make them laugh, page after page. Moni Mohsin pulls off an impossible writerly feat. She actually had me cracking up at the vapidly societal Butterfly,
Recently, I visited a photography exhibit at Gallery G hosted by Sandeep Maini, Honorary Consul for Mexico in Bengaluru and the Sandeep & Gitanjali Maini Foundation.
Chronologically ordered, the stark black-and-white images depicted Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera through various phases in their life,
… Continue reading “Visiting The Diego and Frida Life Chronicles at Gallery G”
About Hannah Kirshner
As someone who grew up on a farm outside Seattle, and then studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, Hannah Kirshner might not have predicted the manner in which her life was to be braided into another culture and country.
… Continue reading “A Brooklyn-based Artist Dives Into Japanese Crafts”
As the oldest of four children, Priya Paul, Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, was certain, from a young age, about wanting to work in the family business. Stirred by talk around the dining table and at various family to-dos,
At one time, Amitha Pai was on the path to a rewarding corporate career. With pedigreed qualifications – an Engineering degree from Manipal, an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB) – and a stint at the competitive Aditya Birla Leadership Program,
… Continue reading “From A Corporate Career To Founding a Social Enterprise”
Kieran Setiya: Reaches Out to a Parched Public
There was a time when philosophers used to tell us how to live. How to deal with hardships, circumvent obstacles, conquer grief and usher joy.
… Continue reading “A Philosopher’s Take on Riding Through Life’s Roughs”
When studying an intensely public figure like Gandhi, one wonders, as one often does with contemporary celebrities or bigwigs, about his behavior in the private sphere. Restless as Mercury offers glimpses into the leader that only those in the closest circles were privy to: namely,
… Continue reading “Lessons that Gandhi Absorbed From His Grandfather and Father”
Let’s start by putting this out there. Danielle J. Lindemann is a sociologist and an Associate Professor at Lehigh University. On her website, the “About Me” page ends with the following line: “In my downtime,
At 55, I find myself increasingly drawn to people who achieve remarkable physical feats. Like sportspersons, amateur athletes, fitness enthusiasts, marathon runners or mountain climbers. So it was really enthralling to meet with 34-year-old Shreyas Hosur,
… Continue reading “Lessons From India’s First Civil Services Officer To Complete the Ironman”
Marshall Poe is a rare academic who has managed to achieve something that most professors would find formidable: establish a wildly popular platform that hosts sparkling conversations about books. I have been listening to episodes from the New Book Network (NBN) ever since the pandemic shuttered us into private spaces of our own making.
… Continue reading “A History Professor Launches A Thriving Book Podcast”
All businesses are rife with risk. But more so the entertainment business, subject to shifting audience whims, competitive pressures and the commercial imperative to deliver returns on huge production costs. It’s hardly a sector for the faint-hearted.
… Continue reading “Sustaining Creativity Inside Organizations: Lessons From Pixar”
Forging Communities Inside Salons
Sandhya Sharma, 45, set up her own small parlor because she was married off too early – at 11 – to a man twice her age. Not only did she have to grapple with motherhood too soon,
A Cosmopolitan Childhood
Arundhati grew up with a sense of needing to excel in everything. Whether it was academics, dance, drawing or swimming, she always set up reach goals. Maybe this was partly inspired by her “helicopter” Mom.
Beauty Diplomacy: The Story Of The Book
Oluwakemi M. Balogun, Associate Professor at the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon, was fascinated by how beauty pageants were not just reshaping contestants in Nigeria but also changing notions of the country.
… Continue reading “When Beauty Contestants Become Diplomats”
I have never attended the Jaipur Litfest (JLF). But I have been intrigued, like many other writers, by the manner in which the JLF has reshaped the Indian literary scene. Sparked off in 2006, as a smallish event with about 100 attendees,
… Continue reading “A Witty and Piercing Take on the Jaipur Litfest”
Gandhi in Durban: Sticking To His Turban
When Gandhi reached Durban in 1893, he was just a recently graduated newbie lawyer. In his own words: “I was just a boy returned from England wanting to make some money.” But he already bore a remarkable degree of self-confidence in himself and his culture.
… Continue reading “Reading Gandhi: Channelizing Anger To Change History”
A recent article in The Hindu featured three artists who have painted murals at Indiranagar in Bangalore. Figures depicted on their colorful wallscapes include the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, the religious teacher and educational philosopher J.
… Continue reading “Reading Gandhi: Understanding The Nation’s Founder”
The Author’s Backdrop
The Telugu author, Varalakshmamma, was born in 1896 in Andhra Pradesh. She was a zealous member of the freedom movement, who was galvanized by Mahatma Gandhi. More impressively, she was a feminist who urged other women to assert their rights and to join Gandhi’s movement,
… Continue reading “Reading Telugu Stories: A Deputy Collector Regrets His Working Life”
Of late, there has been a slew of books that critique higher education in the U.S. Many of these written by American scholars and pedagogical practitioners who are intensely invested in the system delivering better learning outcomes.
… Continue reading “When Educational Ideals Are Overtaken By Commerce”
Krishna Gowda of Bookworm, one of our city’s prominent literary advocates, alerted us to a lovely set of books. Published by Aleph, these books carry English translations of the greatest Indian language “stories ever told” – for instance,
… Continue reading “Reading Telugu Stories: Chalam explores forbidden desires”
When I met Sowjanya Shetty at the Green Theory café/restaurant, in the kind of setting that the erstwhile city prided itself in – colonial bungalow, chiming bird song, leafy garden, white gazebos – I couldn’t help but dwell on how apt our meeting place was.
… Continue reading “When A Corporate Leader Gets an Inventive Makeover”
When I conduct writing workshops, I break my process into a simple and even dishearteningly imitable series of steps:
Step 1: Toss your phone into a pond
Step 2: Read
Step 3: Write
Step 4: Rewrite
Why is this disheartening?
… Continue reading “Why Writers Should Be Deliberate Readers”
All our lives are imbued with uncertainty. While the pandemic has only exacerbated our consciousness of fragility, our material realities have always been stitched with tenuousness. In a world or even universe, where nothing is certain,
I was raised in a family where the parental thrust was almost entirely on academics. At school, we had the athletes and the sports “B-Division”. Those of us who were clumped into the B-Division, according to the school’s classification,
A recent issue of The Economist (June 25, 2022) recounted the story behind one of my all-time favorite songs: It’s a Sin by Pet Shop Boys. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the British band or its haunting lyrics,
… Continue reading “It’s a Sin: Why The Pet Shop Boys Still Command Such Interest”
When An Investor Infuses His Soul in The Game
In a world where people are often expected to inhabit polarities – pro-capital or pro-labor, liberal or conservative – Vitaly Katsenelson dwells in a rare liminal or middle space.
… Continue reading “When An Investor Infuses His Soul in The Game”
Let me start with a favorite song. I’m not sure if many millennials or GenZs are familiar with the 1983 movie, Flashdance. The plot revolves around a working class woman, a welder called Alex,
… Continue reading “When Authority Figures Unwittingly Foster Failure”
In a world saturated with noise – podcasts, audiobooks, videos, talk shows, webinars – what the world doesn’t lack is content. Yet, there are scores of new podcasters, new writers, new TV shows, new films,
Jigyasa Labroo, who is ushering a critical change into Indian public schools and into the lives of low-income children, won a well-deserved spot in the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. As the co-founder of Slam Out Loud,
… Continue reading “Jigyasa Labroo Champions Kids’ Voices From The Margins”
Neena Gupta, at the age of 62, after winning two National awards and essaying several memorable television and film roles – including the iconic Ketaki in Khandaan – had put this message out on Instagram,
I am as intrigued by the stories of books as I am by stories in books. Especially with intensely researched projects, I am fascinated by the author’s impetus to launch on such arduous and even perilous quests.
… Continue reading “When a Scholar Dives Into Japanese American History”
I’ve always enjoyed Aparna Piramal Raje’s pieces in The Mint, her profiles of business icons like Rahul Bajaj, or her vivid narratives about workspaces, buildings and cities. While reading her latest book,
… Continue reading “Succeeding With Bipolarity: Aparna Piramal Raje’s Awe-Inspiring Account”
Reading Queeristan feels like you’re sitting across an intelligent, high-spirited and intentionally campy writer, at a friendly café, with Bollywood songs playing in the backdrop. Not just any Bollywood song, but Hema Malini in Naseeb,
… Continue reading “Journeying Into Queeristan: Ushering Inclusivity Into Indian Workplaces”
Pico Iyer has lived in Japan for more than thirty-two years but has consciously avoided learning Japanese. This despite, being married to a Japanese woman, whose grasp of English is as feeble as Pico’s knowledge of Japanese.
… Continue reading “Traveling To Japan With A Perceptive and Sparkling Guide”
My husband has long since snatched the cool parent title. Since my ‘kids’ are no longer, well, kids – they are both in their 20s – I thought I would dwell on one of the reasons for the crown slipping well beyond my reach.
Working for the thriving family business at Banswara Syntex might have been an expected or inevitable end for Dhruv and Udit Toshniwal, the grandsons of R.L. Toshniwal; striking out on their own with a new-age,
… Continue reading “When Bespoke Speaks Volumes: Insights From The Pant Project”
I have no intention of founding a startup. But I do dwell in a city that carries an exalted status inside the global entrepreneurial ecology. Because of this, I have friends and relatives who are associated with startups in various ways: as founders,
… Continue reading “When A Harvard Professor Studies Startup Failures”
When I started hearing a buzz about Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh from reader friends, I ordered my copy but allowed it to inhabit the clumsily stacked pile of “To-be-Read.” As an unabashed practitioner of
… Continue reading “Why India’s Young Women Still Seek Shah Rukh”
It’s been a while since I have formally inhabited an office. Though there are times, as a writer, when one constructs a make-do office, by heading out to a café or a library, to escape the ennui or annoyances of home: the doorbell,
… Continue reading “Reliving the Pleasures and Perils of Offices”
Ganesh Nair, also known as Rajesh among close circles, accomplished a feat that many midlifers might contemplate but are hesitant to pull off: vaulting from a reputed senior leadership position into the choppy terrain of a novitiate in a completely unrelated field.
… Continue reading “From The Corner Office to Remaking Interior Spaces”
Let’s start with a scene that might be familiar to many parents. Your teenage son returns after a decisive exam. His performance on this might determine the course of his future. You hear him stomp into the dining room.
… Continue reading “The Makeup of Reality: Why Other Senses Are Not Given Their Due”
An Urban Anthropologist Dwells Among Taxi Drivers
Tarini Bedi, author of Mumbai Taximen, starts out, as many of us do when traveling through Mumbai, feeling carsick inside a kaalipeeli.
… Continue reading “A Heart-wrenching Dive into Taxi Driver Lives”
I can’t sing. I can’t carry a tune, not even of a nursery rhyme or of any other ditty. For those of us who speak quite easily, it’s rather astonishing that the brain/body circuits that produce music are aggravatingly absent.
… Continue reading “Whiskey Lullaby: Inebriation and Love Woven Into a Song”
Gaining An Early Sense of the Fragility of Life
When Clare Arni was three years old, she moved with her family from Scotland to Peru. Her earliest memory in the South American country involves an earthquake,
… Continue reading “Using Her Eye To Remake the World: Clare Arni’s Inventive Career”
Psst, folks, here’s the lowdown: the brainiest and most reflective minds are not sniffing the stuff. Some, like Walter White in Breaking Bad, might even be involved in cooking the meth, but they’re barricading their own smarts and wits from Instagram likes or LinkedIn notifications.
Most of us struggle to find an ikigai – the Japanese term for work that melds passion and skills with what the world needs and more critically, is willing to pay for. Raja Ganapathy belongs to the fortunate minority who can claim to have lived a passionate life,
… Continue reading “Living Your Ikigai: Pointers From Raja Ganapathy’s Passionate Life”
Brinda S. Narayan
