A new beginning?
Something is changing. Something important has shifted. Our response to the performance of our athletes in the Tokyo Olympics has a note of hope, a fresh sense of new beginnings that is unmistakable....
View ArticleThat indescribable feeling
You can call it patriotism. Or label it as nationalism. Perhaps see it as nothing more than collective euphoria. But it is something we feel only once in a while. The uplift in national sentiment...
View ArticleThe Value of Valuations?
The recent Zomato IPO was greeted both by enthusiastic cheers and snide incomprehension. For some the idea of a start-up managing to get valued so generously was a sign of a new world order that...
View ArticleThe tyranny of slimfit clothes
The Slimfit Conspiracy? That Organized Fashion is a tyranny is well known. In the name of what is currently in vogue, many abominations have been inflicted upon men and women down the ages. On the...
View ArticleIs a green Diwali possible? Indians don’t easily take to modifying individual...
Every year, as Diwali approaches, a familiar pattern can be seen. Courts and governments move to ban firecrackers, some people heave a sigh of relief while others get indignant about a perceived...
View ArticleWhy is afternoon the least recognised part of the day?
The afternoon attracts no poetry. It lies as a forgotten part of the day, a forlorn bridge between the bits that excite our imagination. We might be morning or evening people, but no one talks...
View ArticleThe difficulty of staying still
The latest darlings of the financial world are the new players who are promising grocery delivery within 10 minutes. This is as close to magic as one can imagine, one which dramatically collapses the...
View ArticleAdventures in gadgetland
In the 70s, when we first bought a tape recorder, those little boxes with a few buttons, one of them red, their role was largely to record the sound of our own voices. The idea...
View ArticleHow advertising held a mirror to India where change was the only constant
There are many mirrors in which we can see our evolution in the 75 years that have gone by since Independence, and advertising is a particularly interesting one. For it tells us stories about how...
View ArticleTies that bind: Festivals, shopping and our sense of self – Diwali has always...
For as long as one can remember, Diwali has been synonymous with shopping. Of course, in the older days, the actual quantum was quite low. While one always wore a new set of clothes on...
View ArticleMiddling win, middling loss: AAP won the MCD polls but lost some support. BJP...
AAP’s victory in the MCD polls is not a surprise. The exit polls were right for once, and BJP’s undistinguished record in running the municipality made it easy to believe them for once. The margin...
View ArticleSports as metaphor?
Another India-Pakistan match has just ended, this time inconclusively. But every such encounter is an exercise in nail-biting tension, with over-the-top celebrations in the case of a win and angry...
View ArticleOf fond old memories and happy contradictions
Is Diwali the same as it used to be? In some ways, it is louder, glitzier, and more packed with social activity and consumption. But has something been lost in the process? What was always...
View ArticleNew tales of the kitchen
There is a new kind of kitchen in town. It has no doors. It blends seamlessly into the living room and looks as as if it is an integral part of the decor of the...
View ArticleHoli, IPL, Elections
All festivals have their unsavoury bits. But they give us distinct forms to express ourselves individually and collectively. Festivals bring us together. So our need for them endures Nothing looks and...
View ArticleLiving the high life
With its clubs, swimming pools, jogging tracks and more, condo gives substance to the idea of a ‘good life’. That it also breeds a sense of entitlement among affluent Indians is part of the package...
View ArticleVideos told the story: It’s not one nation, one pole
Six months ago, this election was a done deal. Then something changed. It didn’t happen overnight, but gradually disenchantment against govt began to surface in pockets. The most striking change that...
View ArticleHow hard should hard work be?
Hard work never killed anybody. Or so we heard repeatedly growing up. Clearly, that does not ring true these days. The tragic passing of young Anna Sebastian Perayil, allegedly of overwork, four months...
View ArticleThe future of intelligence?
When we discuss the future, it seems obvious that what we are talking about is technology, so intertwined have the two ideas become. But at a basic conceptual level, one question that has always been...
View ArticleImmortality itch
Tech tycoon Bryan Johnson is in India, and he brings with him ideas about reversing the process of ageing. This is something he pursues with a seriousness bordering on the pathological. His daily...
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