The Tokyo Toilet
I finally watched Wim Wenders' 'Perfect Days' which came out in 2023 only to discover that the wonderful movie was commissioned as a marketing pitch for the 'Tokyo Toilet' project. The 'Tokyo Toilet'...
View ArticleA Paean to the Indian Railways
I’ve always been sceptical of the nostalgia and sentimentality associated with bygone eras and yesteryears. But despite this, each and every time I step into an Indian railway platform, a wave of...
View ArticleThe C-Section Boom
The World Health Organization (WHO) historically considered a C-section rate of 10–15% as an approximate threshold. Over the past three decades, however, the global prevalence of Caesarean deliveries...
View ArticleA Rifle, a Photograph, and a Cartoonist
Will Eisner, is often credited to be the first person who introduced the term ‘Graphic Novel’. Today, the Eisner Awards, named after him, are the most coveted recognition for artists and publishers of...
View ArticleThe Tragedy of the District Judiciary
I embarrassingly realised that I knew next to nothing about the workings of the District judicial system in India until I picked up Prashant Reddy Thikkavarapu’s and Chitrakshi Jain's ‘Tareekh Pe...
View ArticleFertility Rates, Gender Equality and the Math of Human Extinction
If there’s one unmistakable feature of our society today, it should be the falling birth rates. Unlike the generation of our parents, its quite common today to come across couples who have voluntarily...
View ArticleMunnar Notes
During the Christmas break, I spent three days visiting Kerala’s most celebrated tourist destination – Munnar. The place lives up to its reputation for natural beauty. Contrary to my expectations, the...
View ArticleDraupadi and Pani Puri
My little one recently represented her school in an inter-school quiz competition. True to form, she got eliminated in the first round itself. On reaching home, she tested my knowledge of the questions...
View ArticleMokyr’s ‘The Lever of Riches’
When Joel Mokyr won the Economics Nobel this year, the chorus of appreciation for his work on Economic History was too loud to be ignored. So I picked up his ‘The Lever of Riches: Technological...
View ArticleImpressions on China from Wang’s ‘Breakneck’
One of the most mind-boggling statistics that I’ve ever come across in all my reading was the one by Vaclav Smil on China’s cement consumption: In 2018 and 19, China produced nearly as much cement...
View ArticleReflections on Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Assessments
In Disaster Management, assessing risks is foundational towards ‘preparing’ for a disaster and ‘mitigating’ the impacts of a disaster. Intuitively, we all understand risk. Shopping during a pandemic is...
View ArticleThe NATO Lake
With Finland and Sweden joining the NATO, the Baltic Sea is now often referred to as the NATO Lake. The alliance controls more than 95 per cent of the Baltic’s coastline and all of its sizeable...
View ArticleThe World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle
If you were an East German during the Cold War, the Stasi (East German Secret Police) scrutinized every aspect of your life. Letters would be read, houses and offices would be bugged, suspects could be...
View ArticleBhuj Notes
I visited Bhuj for the first time earlier this week. The first thing that struck me was the barren landscape, the hardy Mesquite trees, herds of goats and gaushalas – each a testament to a land shaped...
View ArticleThe Tempest
Shakespeare’s play of a magician conjuring up a storm and bringing together a group of men to his island—his mastery over a native, a compliant spirit, and a daughter who is ‘made’ to fall in love with...
View ArticleGates’ Source Code
Today, Bill Gates is known more for his sage-like utterings on global development and the groundbreaking work of his foundation than for his technological prowess. But for someone who grew up in the...
View ArticleThe Tragedy of Free Parking
In the beginning the earth was without parking. The planner said, Let there be parking, and there was parking. And the planner saw that it was good. And the planner then said, Let there be off-street...
View ArticleSuperagency
In Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future, Reid Hoffman and Greg Beato celebrate the potential of AI to transform our lives. Hoffman was the co-founder of LinkedIn, was on the...
View ArticleOn Settler Colonialism
Just as including He/She/They in your bio was recently considered an ‘in’ thing (at least until a few months ago), the term ‘Settler’ is also laden with symbolism, solidarity, and wokeness. But like...
View ArticleThe Real Costs of Chernobyl and Fukushima
Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain’s 'World Without End' – a comic about Climate Change that outsold Asterix in France in the year of its launch was a sharp, engaging introduction to Energy...
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