Blogs

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Weekly Vine. This week we explore Sam Altman’s battery theory of humanity, talk about Lutyens’ bust being removed from Rashtrapati Bhavan, examine the problem with the Citrini paper that tech bros cannot stop talking about, and discuss the myth of corporate love. Sam Altman’s battery theory of…

Education as a process for preparation of mind for living & working yet remaining oriented towards self-realization 1) Some Key Features of National Education Policy, NEP 20: To promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Less content, and more towards learning about how to think critically and solve problems. Education must build character, enable learners to…

Over two millennia ago in the aftermath of the fall of King Solomon’s second temple in 70 BC, Jewish people dispersed in various directions. A shipwreck occurred on the western coast of India and those who survived landed safely on the shore with the help of locals. Seven men and seven women began their new…

The recent interview given to a media outlet by the JNU Vice Chancellor Prof. Shantishree Dhulipudi Pandit could be an interesting text for a language student to work on. It could be used well for example to teach paradox, contradiction, ambivalence and other figures of speech in the same cohort. We could have even indulged…

Depending on where we live, we are either coniferous or deciduous, except in reverse As winter yields to warm spring, which will become the furnace of summer, I look at the trees that front my house. Like almost all the trees in the plains of north India, these trees are deciduous, like the amaltas and…

By Avatar Meher Baba The ways of impressionable many are as a rule emblematic of the attitude and behaviour of the influential few. In our age, these key figures in public life are, with rare exceptions, glamorous exponents of materialism. Worldly man, in his limited vision, fancies something to be right; he then proceeds to…

As Tamil Nadu’s assembly election approaches, the political script is the same old – Stalin’s DMK in govt is sharpening its federal rights and social justice pitch; ADMK’s trying to rebuild its organisation; BJP’s looking to expand its footprint in a state it has always struggled in. Smaller parties are positioning themselves around identity, language…

After surging for years, the price of gold has entered the realm where storytelling drives its price. Breaking free of the fundamental forces that long explained its ups and downs, it is now rising on tales of global risk and uncertainty – which make this era feel to some observers like the gold rush of…

The Chief Justice of India recently suggested that everyone in India should be forced to vote. But here’s the thing: our Constitution says voting is a choice, not a homework assignment you have to finish. The Big Numbers: In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, about 65 crore Indians voted. That is more people than the…

Top-notch AI models cost billions to build, but almost nothing to steal. AI firms should be on their guard   Estimates vary, but AI firm Anthropic has spent over $8bn to train its Claude model. Obviously, it doesn’t want rivals cloning Claude for free, but that’s what three Chinese firms, including last year’s newsmaker DeepSeek, allegedly…