What comes to your mind when you think of the Sanskrit language? Perhaps your childhood when Sanskrit was just another subject (and a complicated one) at school? Or a forgotten melody of chants you heard at home or a temple? It might also conjure images of dusty scrolls and stern-faced priests, especially if you’re from outside India. That’s generally the impression when one thinks of Sanskrit. The language seems to be coming straight from the heavens, too divine for the likes of us to express mere mortal romances. But, what if I told you it also has a rich tradition of love poems, whispered f ..read more

Imagine being stranded in your own home, the world outside transformed into a churning sea. To make matters more difficult, what if you were a dog in this situation? What would happen? This is the terrifying scene captured in “The Flood,” a short story by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, a giant of Malayalam literature. Famously known as Thakazhi, TS Pillai wasn’t someone churning out happy endings. He was a master of capturing the raw struggles of everyday people, especially those on the margins. “The Flood” was born from a real-life tragedy, the devastating Kerala floods of 1924. Pillai, with hi ..read more

Lekhraj Tulsiani was a prominent voice in Sindhi literature, well known for his short stories. Born in Sindh in 1919, Tulsiani’s early life was steeped in the rich cultural diversity of this region, then part of undivided India. Tulsiani’s world was dramatically altered by the partition of India in 1947. Sindh became part of Pakistan, and like many Sindhis, Tulsiani was forced to leave his homeland and migrate to India. This experience of displacement undoubtedly shaped his writing, and themes of loss, identity, and resilience can be seen in them. If you’re interested in delving deeper into th ..read more

If you’re an Indian, it’s unlikely that you wouldn’t have heard the name Bhagat Singh. For those of you who don’t know, he was a revolutionary who dared to challenge the British rule in India. His courage and defiance, even in the face of execution at the young age of 23, made him a national hero and a symbol of India’s fight for independence. In this post, however, I won’t be discussing his call to fight against the British, but his battle cry against a different kind of oppressor–faith itself. His essay, Why I am an Atheist, which he wrote while he was locked in Lahore jail, resonates even t ..read more

Sant Singh Sekhon was a Punjabi writer who lived through a period of immense upheaval in India. Born in 1908, Sekhon witnessed the British Raj firsthand, the rise of Indian nationalism, and the traumatic partition of the country in 1947. This historical context is crucial to understanding Sekhon’s work, which often grapples with the social and personal costs of a nation in flux. One of his popular short stories is The Whirlwind. It was translated into English by the author himself. When you look at the title, it seems ripe with possibility. Literally, it may seem like an actual storm, but as s ..read more

Language, our most cherished means of communication, can both elevate and deceive. We see it all the time, don’t we? So many of our fights sprout from the use–or misuse–of certain words and expressions. It would be fine if the deception was deliberate, that is, if we really wanted to trouble our listener. The real tragedy, though, lies in our frequent misuse of language due to imprecision. This imprecision, particularly in the realm of public discourse, has far-reaching consequences. Look at the news, for instance. Journalists, fervent in their convictions, label their favoured leaders as “Go ..read more

Almost two decades ago, Boa Sr, the last speaker of Bo, a language of the Great Andamanese family, made an impassioned appeal to her interlocutor: ‘Don’t let the language slip away, keep a hold on it.’ The language was native to the only surviving pre-Neolithic tribe, whose earliest members moved out of Africa 70,000 years ago. The tribe maintained its distance from the mainland India, and therefore, there was no linguistic connection with other Indian languages, you can see in the song below. Boa Sr singing a song in Bo language Elder Boa Sr passed away on 26 January 2010. As far as we know ..read more

The story of how we began to understand ancient India starts in the 18th century. Back then, Europe held onto a historical framework based on the Bible. So, for all intents and purposes, they had to imagine a world where everything stemmed from Noah’s sons—Ham, Shem, and Japhet. This perspective led scholars like William Jones to a fascinating discovery. He noticed striking similarities between Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. Here was a clue—could these languages share a common ancestor, perhaps linked to the Biblical narrative? Art: Christ in India Fuelled by this curiosity, another scholar, Jame ..read more

1962 was a significant year in history. It was when the two most populous nations on Earth, China and India, found themselves locked in armed conflict. The Sino-Indian War, though brief in its duration, cast a long and chilling shadow. Its impact continues to ripple across the geopolitical landscape of both nations, serving as a stark reminder of the consequences of unresolved tensions. Recent skirmishes highlight the enduring nature of this conflict. To fully understand the roots of this complex dispute, we must delve deeper, journeying back to the events preceding 1962, and perhaps even befo ..read more

As some of you might recall, I recently discussed Vandana R Singh’s insightful book, The Bhagavad Gita: A Life Changing Conversation. The book delves into the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, making it accessible and relevant for contemporary readers. Recently, I had the distinct privilege of speaking with the author herself. Below, you’ll find the text of our stimulating conversation. Hope you will get a deeper understanding of the text as well as the author’s thought process behind it. Q: First of all thank you for joining me for this conversation. Let me start with the book and the pur ..read more