If, after watching news of the recently concluded G20 Summit, you got the impression that the global economy is chugging along fine and that countries were getting along fine, you can attribute it to one person: the world leader with the world-leading tweet! After firing off a set of confrontational tweets in customary style, Trump… Continue reading G20: A Summit in Need of Statesmanship
I don’t know about you, but the year 2015 was defined for me by images of hordes of people clambering on to boats to take them across the Mediterranean. Many making it to their destination and many others meeting a watery grave. Since then the sea has become a sort of metaphor for the European… Continue reading After the Financial Crisis, the World at Cultural Crossroads
As we digest news of the slowest rate of economic growth in India in many quarters (5.8% in Q4 of FY 2019) and the highest rate of unemployment in 45 years at 6.1%, all the talk of our demographic dividend of the past 15 years is fast evaporating into thin air. More relevant now, would… Continue reading Is India Adequately Schooled for the Technological Age?
Taking a break from the recently concluded Indian elections, US-China trade wars, Brexit, the EU elections and sundry other preoccupations, I decided it was time to relax a little. My sister was visiting us in Goa and I thought it might be a good idea to take a drive to an island I have long… Continue reading Jacinta Island: Ladies’ Day Out!
The world’s biggest democracy has just elected its new government in a marathon 7-phase election. And what a mockery of democracy it has proven to be. Yet, without a sense of irony, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, says in his victory speech that “it is democracy that has won.” If democracy is merely casting your… Continue reading Saffron Sweep Reveals the Age of Unreason
Spend it, waste it, enjoy it, take too much of it, gift it, cherish it, fritter it away… no matter what we do with our time, we never seem to have enough of it. And try as we might, we can only pack so much into 24 hours. “Yesterday”, as the Beatles have immortalized for… Continue reading How Should We Think About Time?
If we ever need proof that the digital medium is meant for a highly personalized audience and experience, we now have it in streaming of media and entertainment. The likes of Netflix, Amazon and Spotify have changed the entertainment landscape forever with on-demand video and music tailored to our specific tastes wherever we might be.… Continue reading Now Streaming to a Screen Near You
It is said that Indian elections are the greatest experiment in democracy. In a nation of 1.3 billion people and over 900 million eligible voters, that does mean a grand pageant. Some observers, talking to Matthew Amroliwala on BBC World News, even called it a great “festival of democracy”. If you watch the news and… Continue reading Indian Elections 2019: Theatre of the Absurd
At the moment, India is in the grip of election fever and it is not surprising that each political party is promising sops to the farmers and the poor. Well, the ruling party started doling out a farmer income support programme called PM KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) from December last year which promises… Continue reading Universal Basic Income: A Gift for All?
March-April usually means the start of a new financial year and new opportunities at work in India. Appraisals, new assignments, new responsibilities. My mind turned to the rather high rate of joblessness in India (a subject of much debate) and whether it will be an important issue in the elections that are just a few… Continue reading Jobs Going This Time Aren’t Coming Back
Peripatetic Perch 