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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Japan needs Indian migrants. How can it attract them?

This Article First Appeared In The Japan Times On Nov 6, 2023 How much knowledge of foreign residents' cultures should Japan have? How much English proficiency should Japanese people acquire to support migrants in their workplaces? These questions are essential when considering growing immigration to Japan — with the Indian diaspora, in particular, experiencing a surge.

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Can India Change the World?

This Article First Appeared In The New York Times On Mar 29, 2023

Is India the world’s next tiger economy, poised to succeed a slowing China as a pillar of the global economy?

That wouldn’t be anything new, simply a recovery of its traditional position. One economic historian estimates that as recently as 1700, India accounted for about 24 percent of global G.D.P., similar to the share now of the United States or Europe. But today India makes up just 3 percent of global G.D.P., up from 1 percent in 1993.

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U.S. pulling India closer to West as strategic interests converge

This Article First Appeared In The Japan Times On Nov 11, 2023 U.S. efforts to bring India closer to the West are continuing, particularly in the areas of defense and security, with the world's two largest democracies agreeing to accelerate defense-industrial collaboration and strategic technology partnerships that would reduce New Delhi's dependence on Russian military equipment.

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