How Indian Americans Came to Love the Spelling Bee

This Article First Appeared in The New York Times On July 03, 2021

Eighth graders aren’t generally known as dictionary aficionados. But Dhroov Bharatia, 12, has a passion for language. “Nothing can express an idea as effectively as a judicious use of words,” he said by phone from his home in Plano, Texas. This love of vocabulary has made him one of 11 finalists in this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, adding him to a long line of South Asian American middle and elementary schoolers who have excelled at the competition.

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How Indians settled abroad are no longer being apologetic about showcasing their Hindu roots

This Article First Appeared in The First Post On Nov 12, 2023 Twenty-three-year-old all-rounder Rachin Ravindra, a Hindu boy born in Wellington to parents of Indian origin, wears the Black Cap on the cricket field. Rachin, whose first name is a portmanteau of Rahul (Dravid) and Sachin (Tendulkar), hit the headlines after sharing a video that went viral on social media. The gifted cricketer met his grandmother in Bengaluru during the ICC Cricket World Cup. In the video, he is sitting in an old-fashioned chair in what seems like a living room. The elderly lady is performing the ‘nazar utarna’ ritual (an age-old Hindu ritual performed to ward off the evil eye) to ensure the well-being of her grandson, who has distinguished himself in the prestigious tournament.

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Hamas Attacked Israel Over Mosque In Jerusalem, Once Liberated By Indian Soldiers

This Article First Appeared in The NDTV On Nov 08, 2023 Just before sunrise on October 7, hundreds of Hamas operatives crossed Gaza's border with Israel. Within minutes, they poured across, opening the gates of hell. On that morning, neither the Israeli soldiers monitoring the Gaza border nor the civilians living in nearby towns and kibbutz had any idea about the bloodiest attack in the country's 75-year history. Hamas called it 'Operation Al-Aqsa Flood', in reference to the mosque in Jerusalem's Old City that houses the third holiest site in Islam.

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Persecution’s parallel lines

This Article First Appeared In The Times of India On Nov 25, 2023 Oppressed peoples usually strategise to emancipate themselves through assimilation with the dominant culture around them. This is what Jewish intellectual leaders, from Bruno Bauer, Marx’s competitor, to Theodore Herzl, Zionism’s theoretical founder, advocated as well.

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To understand Indian art, BN Goswamy often turned to Indian music

This Article First Appeared In The Scroll On Nov 27, 2023 There is a painting by Mughal miniaturist Abu’l Hasan of an old, fragile ascetic bent with age facing a fresh pink blossom. The flowers sit cheerfully near the fakir’s feet as life ebbs away from his body. To most of us, the painting would be a reminder of both the grimness of mortality and the promise of another day. But to art historian BN Goswamy, it held the music of Kumar Gandharva’s timeless rendition of nirgun poetry set to Bhairavi: Bhola Man Jaane Amar Meri Kaya (my foolish mind believes that my body is immortal). Goswamy points out how the achingly beautiful composition speaks of the fragility of life, like “balu ki bheet, pawan ka khamba (walls of sand held up by pillars of wind)”.

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Why something from the West becomes science and East a superstition?

This Article First Appeared In The India Today On Mar 14, 2023 Right from ancient times, many numbers of visitors have visited India, and so did the great American writer and thinker Mark Twain. After his short visit, he said, “Anything that can ever be done either by man or God has been done in this land.”

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