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!
An Indian newspaper headline recently read “World Cup 2019: Cricket Sunshine breaks through Brexit Clouds”. The article says that “the World Cup is happening at an extraordinary time. The Empire is trying to define what it means to be English. At the same time, it’s the outsiders who are shouldering the nation, cleaning it –… Continue reading Brexit v ICC World Cup: Which Britain Will Prevail?
For an election that concerns 28 nations, the EU elections usually attract little attention. Until this year, when it was heartening to see a larger voter turnout. And, as is usually the case in the event of a large voter turnout, this time too it is a mandate for change. The most recent Eurobarometer polls… Continue reading Time for Europe to Seize the Day
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
I finished reading the complete Faust by Goethe just a few days ago. However, this post is not about what I thought of the book, but about the train of thoughts it set off inside my head. About Faustian bargains and how we are surrounded by them in our lives. I then discovered that all… Continue reading Of Faustian Bargains in Our Times
Peripatetic Perch 