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Just Like That: When kings were also scholars

India, Aug. 23 -- In India, the possession of power has never implied an abandonment of the life of the mind. Indeed, some of the most remarkable rulers in Indian history regarded intellectual curiosi... Read More


Just Like That: Is instant fame eclipsing enduring talent

India, Aug. 16 -- There was a time when fame was expected to be the consequence of achievement. Today, increasingly, achievement itself seems to have become secondary to fame. We live in an age in whi... Read More


Just Like That: The Bhakti movement, beyond our textbooks

India, Aug. 9 -- The much-debated National Education Policy (2020) seeks to root education in the Indian ethos and civilisational heritage. This is welcome. But the real challenge lies not only in int... Read More


The Bhakti movement, beyond our textbooks

India, Aug. 9 -- The much-debated National Education Policy (2020) seeks to root education in the Indian ethos and civilisational heritage. This is welcome. But the real challenge lies not only in int... Read More


Just Like That: What matrimonial ads tell us about India

India, Aug. 2 -- In my book, Being Indian (Penguin, 2000), I quote a startlingly interesting matrimonial ad that appeared in one of the country's leading newspapers. It read: 'Wanted FAIRY LOOKS, Sli... Read More


Just Like That: The collapse beneath our feet

India, July 26 -- Every few weeks, another Indian city offers us a grim reminder of pervasive municipal failure or neglect. A spell of heavy rain is enough to paralyse traffic for hours. Roads disappe... Read More


Donigers of the world are wrong about Hinduism

India, July 12 -- I have heard uninformed foreigners - and some Indians - denigrate Hinduism for having lakhs of gods. These naysayers argue that Hinduism never had a unified core. No one god, no one ... Read More


Just Like That | Route Laga Hai: The tyranny of VVIP movement

India, June 28 -- Leaders then were far more sensitive to the inconvenience caused by their motorcades. Today, however, among the many small indignities that ordinary Indian citizens endure on a daily... Read More


Don't mistake transient authority for destiny

India, June 13 -- Watching the spectacle of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee's defeat in the recent West Bengal assembly elections, I could not but ruminate on the ephemeral nature of power, ... Read More


Just Like That: J. Krishnamurti and Osho

India, June 7 -- A question I have been asked often is why, in my recent book Echoes of Eternity: A Journey Through Indian Thought from the Rigveda to the Present, which is a compendium of the remarka... Read More