Blogs

4. Imperfect isolation can’t eradicate smallpox The lack of laser-focus on isolation meant that many avoidable gaps remained in the way isolation was practiced. First, insufficient surveillance. Dr Charles Chapin noted in a 1912 textbook: “unrecognized cases … are so numerous that isolation of recognized cases often seems to be a complete failure”13. Without strong…

In an era where productivity is worshipped and downtime dismissed as laziness, a quiet rebellion is brewing-from the comfort of one’s own bed. A friend of mine from the last four decades, a professor by profession, in her late fifties recently confided in me that she is exhausted by endless sitting, scrolling and screens, she…

The holy and blessed days of Ramadan are approaching. Our love and devotion towards the Almighty must express itself as the invocation of our soul to Him. Our tongue must taste the sweetness of calling upon Allah, extolling Him by His many beautiful and glorious names. Our mind, heart and spirit must immerse in the…

(The story of an unannounced guest—sequel) The universe has trillions of galaxies, stars, planets and our home—theEarth. Speaking of which—there are billions of people here, but wecross paths with only a handful of them. We say, whoever comes into our lives has been orchestrated by thedivine, the karma.… and all that. So, is it just…

Why your next phone might become more expensive If we could ask for just one thing in this year’s Budget, it would be this: the government should remember that the world is running short of memory chips. Not the brain kind of memory, but the tiny DRAM chips inside phones, tablets and laptops. Right now,…

As religious identity shifts from the margins to the mainstream, Kerala’s secular political model faces a recalibration ahead of the assembly polls For over a decade, even as religious politics became normalized nationally, Kerala told itself a different story. The prevailing belief was that the state’s politics was shaped by class struggles, land reforms, literacy,…

Vakkom Abdul Khader’s role in the freedom struggle is rarely acknowledged in national memory Eighty-two years ago, a group of young Indian National Army (INA) soldiers, including Vakkom Abdul Khader, embarked on a perilous journey from Penang to British India aboard a Japanese submarine. Their mission was to gather intelligence on British military deployments and…

By Swami Sukhabodhananda When you look at Shiv, look at Him deeply. Look at trishul – the trident – meditatively and when you offer flowers to Him, do so meditatively. Then a beautiful poem emerges in your heart: Ahimsa prathamam pushpam, pushpam indriya nigraham, sarvabhoota daya pushpam, kshama pushpam visheshataha, shanti pushpam tapo pushpam, dhyanam…

The great gender wealth gap persists by socialising women to separate their emotions from smart financial decisions. They need to stop romanticising such rubbish A man has asked a woman out on a date. They are at a restaurant. After their order has arrived and she is digging into hers, he starts video-ing her, and…

Not clean air or water, not good roads or sanitation, not nice public hospitals. Sure, too few Indians are income tax payers. But an incompetent state does not offer them fair returns either I remember the moment I knew I had to leave Mumbai: around 15 years ago, at the end of the monsoon, the…