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The language of modern physics is math, which makes its appreciation difficult outside the club of physicists and mathematicians. People are not interested and sometimes intimidated in reading physics written in mathematical formulae, which makes no sense to them. However, one formula of physics has captured public imagination more than anything else, i.e., E =…

The Jantar Mantar protests ended peacefully because both the govt and CJP were willing to compromise. That was good news. But the protests also reminded everyone that India’s middle class is becoming worried and frustrated. Usually, the middle class doesn’t protest. This time, many felt they had to. Some protesters looked poor, while others looked…

Delhi protests are part of a larger dissatisfaction of income tax-paying groups about public services & spaces That Jantar Mantar protests ended with both GOI and CJP avoiding maximalist stands was a relief. But GOI will do itself and the country good to recognise that protests have put the focus back on middle-class anxieties. Things…

For the first time in my adult life, I have serious FOMO: the ovarian lottery locked me out of India’s most radical generation in years. Still, as an xennial (the age-sensitive term for someone born on the northern side of the 70s), I’m downright breathless from watching how our students met revolt with humour, injustice…

It is the great Indian metamorphosis. As the young triumphantly leave Jantar Mantar, it is the roaches that have changed the rest of us. They forced a rethink on the part of a generally unyielding govt. Tens of thousands of youngsters who walked out of their homes on July 20 with the basic kit of…

Narayani Ganesh You are born into a religion, but you can also choose not to follow it and opt for another school of faith. Members of one family may even choose to follow different faiths just as it happens in politics, where family members can belong to different political parties. Gender, too, is a fluid…

Notes from an entomologist’s journal The email arrived Tuesday (July 21) morning: “Large aggregation of cockroaches reported at Jantar Mantar. Behaviour unusual. Immediate observation recommended.” Curious reports are why entomologists travel. So, she packed collecting tubes, a hand lens, a field notebook, and by the time she reached the field, the cockroaches had multiplied. None…

Freedom of speech is one of the most important parts of democracy. Trump is famous for arguing with journalists. He has often called news reports “fake news,” criticized reporters, and attacked media companies. So many people were surprised when he gave a speech last Friday at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Trump said, “We…

US prez upheld freedom of speech. It’s a value protected constitutionally and legally, across democracies Of all US presidents, Trump has easily had the most caustic relationship with the  American press. He has mocked journalists, accused them of fake news, insulted media organisations, sought their licences be cancelled, on and on. It has been viewed…

Every manuscript, before the printing press made the labour invisible, passed through the hands of a copyist, someone whose entire job was to reproduce the text exactly, and who nonetheless, being human, could not help but leave something of themselves behind in it. A word transcribed slightly wrong. A margin filled with a private annotation…