Indian civilisation has long believed that trial precedes triumph. Like the churning of the ocean, Samudra Manthan, where turbulence yielded nectar, our economic churns have always produced renewal. From the crisis of 1991 came liberalisation and from the COVID-19 pandemic came a digital surge. And, today, from the cacophony of doubters calling India a “dead … Read more
On the first leg of his tour East, Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Japan for a two-day visit for the 15th Annual Summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba before moving to Tianjin to attend the SCO Summit. The last summit, in India, was in 2022. The two sides issued at least a dozen … Read more
The outcome of the Alaska summit, on August 15, 2025, was not the product of a diplomatic contest between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, or the United States and Russia, or the U.S. and Europe. Neither was the outcome of talks that Mr. Trump held with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The biggest … Read more
Time is of the essence in science. The report that 75 women selected for the Department of Biotechnology’s Biocare programme have received neither sanction letters nor salaries is reminiscent of an irksome and persistent malaise in India’s research administration. Young researchers already contend with scant laboratory space, cumbersome university bureaucracies, labyrinthine grant applications, uneven mentorship … Read more
A moving biopic of Leonard Bernstein, Maestro, took me back across the decades to West Side Story, a film I first saw over 50 years ago. His music left a vivid impression on me, even at that young age. The movement, the raw emotion was unlike anything I had experienced before. I did not have … Read more
The everywhere vehicle. | Photo Credit: Getty Images For enthusiasts, the motorcycle is a piece of art in motion. There is nothing more exhilarating than a motorcycle ride with the wind rushing through your hair as you zip through traffic, like the twists and turns in a crime thriller. So, when I see hundreds of … Read more
In choosing names, parents do not seek to drive a personal agenda or stamp their individuality on the little ones. | Photo Credit: Getty Images Elon Musk and wife Grimes named their son X Æ A-12. It threw precedence to the winds, stood out from the clutter, and told public opinion where it got off. … Read more
For people who never strike root in one place, home is an ever-changing concept. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The controversy over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar triggered some thoughts on my own identity — something I have been desperately searching for at least over the past four decades. I have … Read more
In the post-pandemic classrooms buzzing with screens and strained attention spans, student-teacher relationships are undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Teachers today are no longer seen merely as authority figures or disciplinarians; they are confidants, motivators, even emotional anchors for students navigating an increasingly complex world. While this emotional proximity has its merits, it also … Read more
A short walk can be revelatory sometimes. | Photo Credit: Getty Images With the unpredictable monsoon rain, my once-regular morning walks gradually became a distant dream. So, I shifted my walks to the evening, replacing my post-lunch lazy siestas with something a bit more productive. My father would accompany me on most days, and I … Read more