Srinagar, Aug. 14 -- We are happy to announce a new column on Life and Culture. It is universally recognised that culture plays a significant part in our individual lives, as well as in national and international discourse. The revolutionary philosopher Karl Marx underplayed the role of religion, and by extension culture, in nation-building. He gave primacy to economics as the key determinant of personal and public life. "Religion is the opium of the masses," he said. Given Marx's intellectual influence, world political thinking can almost be divided into three phases: before Marx, during Marx, and post-Marx.With the decline of Marxism and the fall of Communist parties across the world, culture has bounced back as a central factor in soci...