In a world ruled by men, gender is perhaps the only religion. Because being a girl – a poor girl, a girl with no agency, education or property rights – does go beyond caste or country. Banu Mushtaq’s book Heart Lamp , translated by Deepa Bhasthi, winning the International Booker Prize is a bandaya (Kannada…
In The Godfather , Mario Puzo wrote, “Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.” Meaning, true retribution demands patience, calculation, and the discipline to set aside rage. In this context, it’s almost comical to see some of our social media warriors mourning what is clearly India’s ongoing victory. Let me break it…
Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, arrested for his remarks on Operation Sindoor by the Haryana police on Sunday (May 18) from his residence in Delhi, comes from a family which has championed education and helped form great institutions. The state of Mahmudabad near Sitapur in UP has played a pivotal role in establishing several…
We’re in the middle of a workplace revolution—one that’s reshaping jobs faster than we can adapt. AI isn’t some distant future threat; it’s already here, drafting our emails, analyzing X-rays, and even filtering resumes before a human sees them. But here’s what the hype misses: AI isn’t just a job destroyer or a productivity miracle….
Amit Kumar Amit Kumar was trained as a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in thermal engineering from the University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) where he was awarded the University Gold Medal. Post his graduation, he decided to pursue a career in renewable energy, a novelty in the early eighties. He had retired…
How beautiful and blessed it is when the heart is immersed in the remembrance of the Divine. There is an old English saying – a man is known by the company he keeps. How amazing and divine it is when the company that you seek is the company of God. When the remembrance of the…
In this week’s edition, we begin by mourning the passing of two Indian science giants—Jayant Narlikar, the cosmologist who challenged the Big Bang, and M R Srinivasan, the nuclear pioneer who quietly powered a nation. We shift from the passing of scientific giants to an influencer-spy scandal, shrinking free speech, Pakistan’s self-promoting generals, and an…
Every year, after my medical screening, during which my 50-year-old health habits are interrogated in an embarrassing fashion (“So Mr Phondke do you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom?”), I resolve to change my eating habits. The plan is the same, to have a super healthy, nutritious diet…
In recent weeks, a flurry of controversial statements by US President Donald Trump has once again drawn unwelcome attention to the India-Pakistan relationship and the enduring question of Kashmir. Claiming credit for a ceasefire between the two nuclear neighbours, Trump asserted in a public rally and in subsequent interviews that he “helped bring peace” following…
3. Much theoretical confusion, such as the Coase theorem The externalities theory is littered not only with indefinable and unmeasurable terms but by trivial (and often defective) “insights”. Take the Coase theorem. Ronald Coase himself did not name it, it was George Stigler who (erroneously) did so. But in Coase’s social cost writings, no remarkable…
