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Margazhi Musings
For aficionados of traditional music and culture, can it really get any better than this? To wake up to the lilting voices of some of the best practitioners of the trade, to absorb the rare deftness...
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Speak Local but Think Global
“யாதும் ஊரே!! யாவரும் கேளிர்!” (Every town is our hometown, everyone is our relative) Poongundran, in the Purananuru, circa 1000 BCE That was from an ancient literary work, first translated by a...
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Food Security or Feud Security?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which India has been a founding signatory, talks of “inherent dignity” and “a freedom from fear and want”. However as of today, that remains but a worthless...
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Prisoners for life, or prisoners of life?
What did the word “prison” in the title bring to your mind? Going by what our movies have you believe, is it images of moustachioed, testosterone-charged men acting on a virtual carte blanche against...
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Elitism, Activism and Online Freedom
We’ve been fed enough and more about feminism and all that in the wake of the Delhi incident, and “activists” (admittedly still a dubious self-description, when we cannot tell the fakes from the...
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SOP – Statement of Purpose (Standard Operating Procedure)
It usually begins with a quote randomly taken from Google. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know who the hell the author was, but preferably someone exotically phoren! While the evaluator has already...
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If They Ran Your Household Budget…
A lot has been said and written about the Indian economy and how it is in a tailspin. But how many of us really understand the gobbledygook of the suited-booted types on national TV? You may or may not...
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The Subsidy Myth…
This piece of mine on the economy tried to show how horribly skewed the numbers are. However, there is another front where the picture is equally depressing. You have been fed all along that the...
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What are some of the most mind-blowing facts about China?
Answer by A Quora admin: This is a legend about the Jiayuguan Pass, which tells of a workman named Yi Kaizhan who lived during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and who was a very proficient mathematician....
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What Next, For The Associate Nations?
Imagine you’re a cricketer from an Associate or Affiliate (one level below Associates) cricket nation. You firstly take to cricket in a land where people think it has something to do with insects, or...
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Why the Net Run Rate (NRR) is a flawed tie-breaker
Saturday, February 28, 2015 saw arguably the best World Cup classic in recent memory. The two co-favourites and co-hosts, Australia and New Zealand met in a Group A clash that New Zealand, on the face...
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Make The 2024 Olympics In India!
In a significant decision, Narendra Modi has asked the Sports Ministry to make a bid for the 2024 Olympics, with Ahmedabad as a probable host city in mind. This has predictably kicked off the usual...
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Is Net Non-Neutrality The Demon It Is Made Out To Be?
I admit I, like everyone else, was swayed initially by the whole “sign this net neutrality petition and save YOUR online future” brouhaha, and was going to write an impassioned defence of “my freedom...
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The Little Things That Matter
I’ve only ever heard or read of floods in newspapers and reports, and never imagined I’d be trapped in one. I survived two earlier spells of heavy rains either side of my Diwali break, and dismissed it...
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How were dates calculated, and kept, in ancient India before the widespread...
My answer to How were dates calculated, and kept, in ancient India before the widespread awareness of Christianity? Answer by Ram Narayan: Firstly, the presumption that the moment a scholarly man with...
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