Blogs

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Weekly Vine. This week, we take a look at MAGA’s Carthage moment, explain The Odyssey for beginners, decode the 9/11 for sigma males, and finally examine how Dhurandhar reinvented a classic qawwali. MAGA’s Carthage moment Sallust, Julius Caesar’s protégé, argued in Bellum Catilinae that the downfall of the Roman Empire was inevitable after…

A specific learning disability, also known as a specific learning disorder, is a neurological condition that affects an individual’s ability to learn and process information in a specific area, like reading, writing, or math. It’s not a matter of intelligence or motivation; it’s just that the brain is wired a bit differently . Types of…

Trump’s renewed bid to seize Greenland is not a diplomatic oddity but a blunt declaration of imperial intent. Beneath the language of “security” lies a project of Arctic militarization, climate-driven resource capture, and the denial of Indigenous self-determination. Greenland reveals how empire speaks when it feels entitled. Empire without apology When Donald Trump says of…

We are in a direction wherein things are to be replaced by robots and systems like Artificial Intelligence. We think, what we are wasting time in, will be done by the system, that can assimilate information better. The system can process all available information in quick time, producing better results and conclusions. Results are better…

Humiliating an African national for not knowing Hindi, exposes Indians to similar abuse abroad  During the Mughal era, the British era, and now the Indian era, Delhi has been blessedly spared ‘sons of the soil’ chauvinism. It’s always been identified as a city of migrants, administration, and trade. Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, English…have all functioned…

A Yuletide gift that brings back memories of a long ago and faraway city This year as always, our friend Derek, MP and Trinamool Congress stalwart, has sent us a special Yuletide present. Derek’s seasonal gift is not just a Christmas cake, but a very special Christmas cake, in that it comes from Nahoum &…

Christopher Mendonca A Jewish Rabbi, teaching the Talmud to agroup of students, pointed out that it was as necessary to notice the white space between words as words themselves. Were it not for these spaces, words would become unintelligible. What is more, he pointed out, these spaces formed the background and context in which what…

There are 3 reasons next year may be a breeze for BJP. Congress, isolated even within opposition, may struggle more. Census & delimitation will trigger stormy politics only ahead of UP & Gujarat polls in 2027 It’s safe to predict 2026 will be another politically tumultuous year. Less easy to predict is specific outcomes or…

Artists, writers, moviemakers are peaceful warriors against censorship. Their resilience informs their art, despite all the crackdowns, prison time and even exile from their home countries Dissident Iranian film director Jafar Panahi has always drawn global attention,as much outside the circle of cinema as within. One of the very few directors to have won the…

India has a saying: Atithi Devo Bhava, which means guests should be treated with respect. But recently, something happened that went against this idea. Delhi has always been a city of people from many places. Over hundreds of years, people have spoken different languages here — Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, and English. No one language…