“I think I have the right to be able to see myself differently from how others see me, to see myself however I want and not to be forced to be this person other people have decided I am. We are how others see us. But I resist accepting such an injustice." These words from the writer …
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somewhere near the geneva lake…
i don’t always feel like writing captions. scenes from landour! :)
how cool is it to have an amazing korean cafe next to your house? :) my favourite dishes from kairos cafe, landour!
#15: Silicon is NOT an existential constraint on modern civilisation
I love this excerpt from Vaclav Smil’s fab book “How the World Really Works”, which is effectively reminding me to get back on my long desired and long abandoned project to learn more about the world of materials: Food and energy supply, the two existential necessities covered in the preceding …
What’s Landour without our Clock Tower? “Good morning, Mussourie!” greets its feminine robotic voice. Every day.
#14: "a good library is filled with mostly unread books"
This, by Scottish cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld, is so good. And accurate. (Source) Reminded me of the term “antilibrary” coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: The writer Umberto Eco belongs to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is the owner …
#13: questions to ask before giving up
Source
#12: montaigne and the invention of “personal essay”
I am reading Sarah Bakewell’s book “How To Live” which may sound like yet another self-help book but is actually a book about the life and writing of Michel De Montaigne, a French writer and philosopher who popularised the “essay” as a literary genre. I love reading personal essays and I want to …
#11: why india does not have a personal essay culture
This posts follows on from the previous one: “why personal essays matter”. Why is there no Indian publication that is promoting this art form? I am not too sure. My hypothesis follows: As a society, unlike the West, India values groups and communities more than the individual — so maybe that’s why …
#10: why personal essays matter
I love reading thoughtfully written personal essays, but they are hard to find in India: there is no dedicated magazine that is promoting, publishing, and most crucially, cultivating talent around crafting personal narratives. Wrote this note to share why I think personal essays matter. From Phillip …
oh my. gulmarg feels heavenly. i love winters! ❄️
Hello from Kashmir! ❄️😇
#9: reading quotes
Ongoing collection of quotes on reading. I will keep adding. Franz Kafka: “I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will make us happy, as you …
#8: everyday communication goals
I won’t start emails with “hope you are doing well” — feels robotic. I won’t end emails with “look forward to your response” — also feels robotic. I will learn to respectfully NOT answer questions like: “what are you working on these days?” …
#7: The 800th lifetime
I am currently writing a private memo (that is a note for myself) to think through what it would take to reimagine political journalism in India. I know the problems. How do we fix it? The memo is stuck. Struggling with some foundational arguments. Which is fine. I am writing this post to share a …
#6: "adolescence is the only period in which we learn anything"
Amazon said it would take ten days to deliver Elif Batuman’s The Idiot, the book I have wanted to read for a while and suddenly wanted to read right away. The three Khan Market bookstores I frequent did not have a copy; I checked yesterday. I finally found a copy this morning at what is now …
#5: i hate instant messaging
One wants to know if I am still around in the city and available to meet. One wants to know if anything remains of a product I had built last year. One wants me to respond to an email someone else wrote to me. One wants me to just check an email they wrote. One wants me to read their blog post. One …
#4: the want to write. but why?
It’s 11 am. It’s the last day of the year. I just had a cup of black coffee. And a three-egg omelette. And I feel like writing. But chances are high I won’t write. I mean, yes, I have already typed the words you just read, but chances are high I will stop somewhere in the middle. Not because I am …
#3: fighting the information-bullshit-entertainment complex
Seven years of journalism and the crisis my profession is facing — everyone loves to hate “the media” — led me to think deeply about the beast called “information sphere”. Think about it. 1. We live in a world exploding with information: so much to read, watch and listen to. …
#2: "reading is first and foremost non-reading"
Read this?
#1: why I am here
Hello, world! This is my first post on my new microblog-hosted blog. A quick post on why I am using (and paying for) this service when so many options exist to share stuff on the internet. One: I am a journalist/writer and love writing long-form, but I also like to consume and post short-form …