Blogs

For the global economy, the Strait of Hormuz is less a waterway and more a jugular vein. As the conflict in West Asia intensifies, most nations are monitoring developments with bated breath, fearing a total blockade. Yet, in the wood-paneled corridors of New Delhi’s North Block, the mood is one of wary relief rather than…

As India accelerates towards Viksit Bharat, the real question is not how fast we grow—but how sustainably our people can perform. India’s growth story is often told through numbers—GDP expansion, startup valuations, unicorn counts, digital infrastructure, and global capital inflows. These metrics signal momentum, ambition, and scale. Yet beneath them lies an unmeasured force that…

In March, I arrived in St. Louis for a bridge tournament with my usual Danish and part‑Swedish team, but my head was elsewhere. My memoir had been published five months earlier, and the PR demands were consuming me. I did not feel mentally geared to summon what I call my “bridge brain” for a high‑level…

Imagine trying to understand how people live, but choosing to ignore some of them. That’s what might happen in India’s Census 2027. It plans to count couples living together without marriage as if they are married. So, it won’t show how many people are actually choosing live-in relationships. But these relationships do exist and are…

​The global landscape is littered with “Digital Transformation” projects that bought expensive software but forgot to upgrade the people. What is happening in Maharashtra today is a rarity in public administration: a true Whole-of-Government tech immersion. We are moving past the era where “tech” was a siloed department in a corner office. Instead, we have…

Ashok Vohra Jainism is one of the oldest religions of the world. According to it, every living being is a soul and has the potentiality of attaining liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Mahavir, the twenty-fourth Tirthankar of Jainism, treated men and women equally. There is no gender bias in his teachings. However,…

Is politics the only endgame for those seeking justice in a country where issues often get buried once the camera lens swivels to the latest viral story? It is an unsettling question, not least because many politicians thrive precisely by riding that difficult wave, aided undoubtedly by the short attention spans of both the media…

Ah, retirement—the golden parachute that often feels more like a deflated balloon animal than free bird soul. One minute you’re dreaming of endless golf swings, tracking in hills and beachside margaritas; the next, you’re staring at your cup of tea, wondering if it’s too early for a nap… or a rebellion.  Take Arijit Singh, the…

I was talking to a senior onco-surgeon, who must have operated on thousands of patients, to seek his advice on what should one look for in a surgeon for a complex case. As he was seventy-plus, he himself wasn’t keen to take up long and complex surgeries, so he suggested that I should look for…

On social media, there is a controversy raging around an unusual person. She is an Instagram reels sensation unlike any other. A married woman from rural Bengal who gives us a peek into her daily routine while talking about things. The films of Takeshi Kitano and David Lynch. About the importance of menstrual leave. About…