Culture
Of late, there has been a clutch of Tamil films that have endeavoured to show the Hindu right-wing in poor light, associating its rituals with violence and oppression. The two most notable examples are Kaala and Petta, both starring Rajinikanth. Kaala was a modern adaptation of the Ramayana but told
Culture
Late last week, I picked up Ram Guha's Patriots and Partisans. I know shamefully little about India's modern political history – before and after Independence – certainly beyond the virtual borders of its scientific and technological endeavours. And to someone as receptive to new ideas on this front
Op-eds
In my latest op-ed for The Wire, where I defended the criticisms of some people who called the EHT's black hole picture too blurry, there are two lines that aren't entirely true. This post attempts to clarify its underlying science as well as to defend it
Science
The physicist David Thouless passed away earlier this month. I confess I didn't know much about him or his work until he won a part of the Nobel Prize for physics in 2016. After that, I read up about his work and had my mind blown, mostly motivated
Op-eds
<!-- wp:paragraph --> On April 1, a few days after India successfully completed its ‘Mission Shakti’ ASAT test, an editorial in the RSS mouthpiece Organiser read: In the initial days, scientists had to fight hard to prove their mettle and significance of the research they were undertaking.
Science
In a live address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India had successfully tested an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile against a live satellite in low-Earth orbit. Though he didn’t explicitly mention a date, he implied in his 15-minute announcement that the test was conducted today, March 27.
Science
In November 2018, T.V. Ramakrishnan reviewed a book called Modern Atomism, edited by J. Pasupathy and published in 2017, for Current Science. To the uninitiated, TVR is a condensed matter physicist of considerable repute and currently works at the Indian Institute of Science. He won the S.S. Bhatnagar
Op-eds
For as long as there were two political groups at loggerheads with each other, there has been an aspiration to be – or remain – on friendly terms with someone on the other side. “Don’t let politics get in the way of a friendship,” they said, and it was useful advice.
Culture
A happy Lord of the Rings Day to you! March 25 is celebrated as such around the world (though not by too many people, I imagine) to commemorate what still endures as an excellent work of epic fantasy as well as – by its fans – to commemorate Frodo's destruction
Scicomm
Where did we come from? That's a really big question for anyone to answer. And if we want to answer such questions, we're going to have to break it down into smaller questions, and then break the smaller questions further until we have something we know
Life notes
Deadly air exposes rich-poor divide, Channel News Asia, March 21, 2019: Delhi's affluent, who are often better informed about the dangers of pollution, increasingly expect the same safety measures they have in place at home, to be available when they are out. High-end eateries, bars and cinemas are
Scicomm
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being interviewed – together with the amazing Nandita Jayaraj – by Pavan Srinath on the Pragati Podcast. Our conversation was about science journalism in India, and both Nandita and Pavan were excellent interlocutors. I particularly liked Nandita's observations on why we