If you look at our history as a species, we can see many Big men (yeah- they are almost always men), who had a huge following. Millions venerated them and fell at their feet. Why? They could transform society- they said. They could bring in Utopia- people believed. Most of them were BIG men, orators […]
Category: Rational ruminations
Funambulism- A Realist Manifesto.
A critic once told me- don’t write anything, if you don’t have anything genuine to tell. This scares me. On occasion, I am called to write for, or speak to, young people. That is when this fear becomes acute. Because the rule is- be inspiring. Anyone can do anything, and be anything. That is the […]
Malthus’s Monster- Truth Behind the propaganda.
Suddenly, the population is back! It was there even in the PM’s speech to the Nation. Assam wants to withhold government jobs to persons who have more than two children. Taking the bait, Muslim leaders have come out, shouting at the top of their voices. In fact, the shouting has been going on for some […]
Hindi- And the Deep History of India.
Ten years back, a friend, who was from West Bengal, said casually: “Hey- Many of the ordinary people in my state resemble you guys from the south.” Hmm…She had used the qualifier ordinary. That was interesting. “You mean, compared to the North- West of India?” I asked. “Yeah. But our language, Bengali, doesn’t resemble your […]
Formulophobe Manifesto- Why I distrust the Big Guns.
I was travelling. A guy sat opposite, reading a bible. I buried myself in ‘A Brief History of the world’. Suddenly he eyed me with a gimlet look: “You know- the world is only six thousand years old. Whole of pre-history is a concocted fable.” I wanted to nod and keep quiet. But couldn’t. “But […]