Author’s Note: The quotation discussed here in this essay below appears in Vedanta Desikan’s Rahasya Traya Saram, where a Mahabharata episode is re-read within a later Sri Vaishnava interpretive framework. The essay is merely an observation — neutral , non-judgmental and wholly academic. The writer’s purpose in penning the essay is solely to invite religiousContinue reading “Vidura, Birth, and Bhakti: A Tension in Reading and interpreting the Mahabharata”
Category Archives: Education
Why “Bahubali” and “Dhurandhar,” but No Mudrārākṣasa (मुद्राराक्षसम्)? Is Chanakya Less Cinematic Than the CIA?
Mudrārākṣasa (मुद्राराक्षसम्): The Classical Indian Drama of Intrigue, Intelligence, and Statecraft A Sanskrit political thriller Viśākhadatta’s Mudrārākṣasa is one of the most arresting works in the Sanskrit dramatic tradition. Unlike many classical plays that dwell on love, courtly sentiment, or aesthetic refinement, this drama is driven by politics, strategy, deception, and the struggle to consolidateContinue reading “Why “Bahubali” and “Dhurandhar,” but No Mudrārākṣasa (मुद्राराक्षसम्)? Is Chanakya Less Cinematic Than the CIA?”
The CIA: An Empire of the Literary Imagination
Hugh Wilford’s The CIA: An Imperial History shows that the Agency’s most dangerous weapon was never a gadget but a story: an imperial literary imagination — Kipling, Lawrence, Greene, Hollywood — that taught America how to see, intervene in, and narrate the world. I’ve just finished reading the book and I now understand the CIAContinue reading “The CIA: An Empire of the Literary Imagination”
How the “Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility”, “Moore’s Law” and “Jevon’s Paradox” teach us all the true Meaning of Life (Part 3 Concluded)
Human Nature, LDMU, and the Search for “Parama Puruṣārtha” Yet that sequence cannot go on forever. For all the empirical power of Moore’s Law and of Jevons’ Paradox, there is a deeper, more stubborn constant: human nature itself. And human nature, as the law of diminishing marginal utility suggests, is wired for satiation, for aContinue reading “How the “Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility”, “Moore’s Law” and “Jevon’s Paradox” teach us all the true Meaning of Life (Part 3 Concluded)”
How the “Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility”, “Moore’s Law” and “Jevon’s Paradox” teach us all the true Meaning of Life (Part 2 of 3)
– Part 2 – How One Blends into the Other At first sight, Jevons’ Paradox and Moore’s Law seem to march in tandem while the law of diminishing marginal utility trails behind, like a conservative chorus whispering, “Beware of excess.” But the deeper one looks, the more the three form a subtle choreography. Start withContinue reading “How the “Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility”, “Moore’s Law” and “Jevon’s Paradox” teach us all the true Meaning of Life (Part 2 of 3)”
How the “Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility”, “Moore’s Law” and “Jevon’s Paradox” teach us all the true Meaning of Life (Part 1 of 3)
– Part 1- Of Three Laws: Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility (LDMU), Jevons’ Paradox, and Moore’s Law I first encountered the law of diminishing marginal utility (LDMU) as an undergraduate student of economics in university, wrestling with the neat diagrams of descending marginal‑utility curves and the intuitive truth that each extra unit of a goodContinue reading “How the “Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility”, “Moore’s Law” and “Jevon’s Paradox” teach us all the true Meaning of Life (Part 1 of 3)”
Cutting out all the noise and bilious rhetoric: How to do an objective assessment of NEET?
NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) was introduced to create a single, transparent, merit-based entrance exam for all undergraduate medical (MBBS) and dental (BDS) admissions in India, replacing the chaotic system of multiple state and central exams. What NEET Sought to Correct, Prevent, and Improve Eliminate multiple exams: Before NEET, students had to appear forContinue reading “Cutting out all the noise and bilious rhetoric: How to do an objective assessment of NEET?”
The colonial mindset of the Editors of UK’s ‘The Economist’ needs fresh lessons in Indian History
As usual, the UK Economist peddles once again in its columns a perversely colonialist perspective on Indian History. Will some learned Indian historian please impart to these washed up editors of this fossilised imperialistic relic of British journalism, fresh lessons in understanding the nuances of Indian History and Culture? The Economist suggests that there areContinue reading “The colonial mindset of the Editors of UK’s ‘The Economist’ needs fresh lessons in Indian History”
WhatsApp conversation with “Eepa”(Sri Indira Parthasarathy) on Samuel Beckett’s famous stage-play, “Waiting for Godot”
On the intriguing subject of “finding meaning in life”, last week on a WhatsApp exchange of messages, back and forth, with Sri Eepa (Indira Parthasarathy, now 96 years old, who lives alone in Athulya Assisted Living Home), we had a very interesting conversation which I take the liberty of sharing here with you . Eepa, the doyen of Tamil literature,Continue reading “WhatsApp conversation with “Eepa”(Sri Indira Parthasarathy) on Samuel Beckett’s famous stage-play, “Waiting for Godot””
“Brahmins as secret Muslims”: Devdutt Pattnaik’s hodge-podge he tries selling as exotic delicacy
Devdutt Pattanaik’s recent framing of “Brahmins as secret Muslims” and his analogy between Brahminical and Islamic ways of life rests on several contestable historical, textual, and sociological assumptions that can be systematically challenged. The “secret Muslims” thesis collapses very different histories and concepts into a single polemical frame. A counter‑narrative can be built by takingContinue reading ““Brahmins as secret Muslims”: Devdutt Pattnaik’s hodge-podge he tries selling as exotic delicacy”