Category Archives: Life notes
Time and the pandemic
There is this idea in physics that the fundamental laws of nature apply the same way for processes moving both forwards and backwards in time. So you can’t actually measure the passage of time by studying these processes. Where does … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Science
Tagged arrow of time, climate change, clock time, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, entropy, eternity, herd immunity, new coronavirus, novel coronavirus, second law of thermodynamics, time, time symmetry
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There is more than one thunder
Sunny Kung, a resident in internal medicine at a teaching hospital in the US, has authored a piece in STAT News about her experience dealing with people with COVID-19, and with other people who deal with people with COVID-19. I … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
Tagged coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, health journalism, infodemic, intensive care unit, journalists, new coronavirus, novel coronavirus, science journalism, Sisyphus, socio-medical crisis, STAT News, uncertainty
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Lord of the Rings Day
A happy Lord of the Rings Day to you! (Previous editions: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014) Every year I pen a commemorative piece about Lord of the Rings, and share something about the books and films that I think about … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Life notes
Tagged Black Leopard Red Wolf, Deepanjana Pal, Denethor, Discworld, ergodic, fantasy, fantasy fiction, Faramir, Gautam Shenoy, inventiveness, JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson, Supriya Nair, Ted Chiang, Terry Pratchett, Thomas Manuel
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The Resistance of the Time
Let us visit the future – a suitable point of time located in one of the many tomorrows ahead of us, a tomorrow far enough to have left The Time behind. What do we see? We see, among other things, … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
Tagged Adolf Eichmann, August Kranti Maidan, banality of evil, Citizenship Amendment Act, cynicism, fascism, Hannah Arendt, Jantar Mantar, Joseph Brodsky, Morgoth Bauglir, Nuremberg trials, peace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Valluvar Kottam
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Ending 2019
This blog achieved multiple minor but personally enjoyable milestones in 2019: It was read by people in 143 counties, the highest in a single year since 2008 (when I started blogging) It was the second busiest year by traffic (after … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
Tagged blogging, bounce back, happiness, heterodoxy, populism, productivity, writing habit
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A personal manifesto
Many people who are unsure of how their work can help put out the various (figurative) fires ravaging the country at the moment often quickly conclude that purpose is best found at the frontlines of this battle. The common trap … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
Tagged anti-CAA protests, authoritarianism, Boris Johnson, Constitution of India, Donald Trump, fascism, Jair Bolsonaro, majoritarianism, make good art, Narendra Modi, National Registry of Citizens, Neil Gaiman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte, Vladimir Putin
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My country is burning. Why should I work?
A few days ago, I found asking myself the following question: My country is burning, why should I work? I ended up with some (admittedly inchoate) thoughts, delineated below. I’m trying to fight off this abject helplessness I’m feeling and … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Scicomm
Tagged authoritarianism, Citizenship Amendment Act, critical thinking, democracy, fascism, individual responsibility, ISRO, pluralism, protest, science communication
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The gaudy-hued beast
When you wake up in the morning to news of four people who allegedly raped a woman having been shot to death by the police, it’s hard not to ask yourself what kind of country this is. It’s even harder … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
Tagged cynicism, extra-judicial killing, failure, journalism, mental health, misanthropy, relevance, reward mechanism, The Wire
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Two things
First As a professional science journalist, I’ve accrued a long list of ‘contacts’ in India and abroad, so whenever I discuss my career prospects with friends, I’m often told that I’m well-setup to become a freelancer. However, I recently realised … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
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Quitting the Thing
A year ago today, I quit the Thing. The Thing didn’t quit me until three months later, and spending those months not getting back to the Thing was the most difficult thing I ever did. Earlier on the day I’d … Continue reading