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Running on just 20W power, the human brain can invent machines, write poems, solve mysteries of soul and space, and, unlike Alphabet’s Waymo cars, navigate streets when the traffic lights are out. It is Socrates, Kalidas, Leonardo da Vinci, Newton, Tolstoy, Gandhi, Einstein, and all the other names you wish we’d listed here. Hundreds of…

By Anil Bhatnagar Every New Year, millions of people resolve to change their lives – walk more, scroll less, eat better, quit harmful habits. Most of these resolutions, however, gradually lose steam – not because people lack sincerity, but because they lack understanding of how change works.Changing habits requires aligning the rider, conscious intention, the…

Welcome to the final edition of My Take 5 in the year 2025. As the year closes – and everyone heads off to their New Year’s eve plans – here’s a quick synopsis of the three key trends going into 2026: Russia-Ukraine war: Despite some optimism from the latest meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in…

As the sun sets on the year 2025 and we enter 2026, I reflect on a thought. No, it is not about the charade of making new year resolutions which I have never followed. It is about a different thing. This afternoon, while sitting at my neighborhood cafe (most of you now know that this…

Most of us hear “gut health” advice all the time. Eat more fiber. Take a probiotic. Cut down on junk food. What rarely gets explained is why any of this matters beyond digestion. In this blog post (#62), I get into the basics of butyrate, a small molecule made in the gut that influences inflammation,…

It has been said that euthanasia is often discussed but seldom acted upon. The reason for lack of substantive action on ground is that, in spite of debates there is no repartee to the quip: “What is the cost of euthanasia. You are.”  The term “euthanasia” itself does not enthuse much confidence. Pearl Buck was…

Hemi’s Bawa’s glass odyssey at Travancore House in Delhi was a curatorial delight in terms of the way it was divided and displayed at this majestic space in New Delhi. Curated by India’s internationally known curator Kristine Michael it reflected Hemi’s iconic journey with glass as a sculptural form. Hemi is considered a pioneer in…

Experiential is what we can easily do, but we don’t do. It is easy to start practising but difficult to understand or learn. I say learn because it is what I do all by myself. So this can’t be learned from others, or no one else can teach it. It is entirely personal. However, if…

Yesterday being a Tuesday, we had a power cut across Udupi and surrounding areas in coastal Karnataka. This happens most Tuesdays for almost the entire day, for reasons best known to KEB (Karnataka Electricity Board). When all electric thingummies shut down at 9.00 am on the dot, we mutter, oh there we go … it’s…

Hello and welcome to the last Weekly Vine of the year. This is the week when editors everywhere are expected to turn briefly into poets. To summon W.B. Yeats. To cast a cold eye. To pretend that twelve chaotic months can be neatly flattened into insight. It is a noble impulse, and like all noble…