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Here is the full, unedited text of a provocatively titled piece I wrote for The Times of India.
Communists despise private property and idealise commonly held property. But I’ll bet Brinda and Prakash Karat don’t share a toothbrush! So let us conduct a “reductio” thought experiment as to what would happen in a city or town […]

Multi-party democracy with universal adult suffrage is a very recent phenomenon in human history. Europe had Hohenzollerns, Hapsburgs and Romanovs till the end of WW1. Even in Britain, till the mid-19th century, the vote was restricted to wealthy property owners and the total number of voters was only about 500,000. My point is this: since […]

In April I posted on a controversial issue: Should India invade Nepal? asking readers to supply coherent reasons for and against the issue while leaving ad hominems home. Around a month later, after the topic had died down I suddenly saw a spurt of comments on the post. Mostly from Nepalis who were very indignant […]

Poor Abhijeet Sawant (the Indian Idol with a Rs. 1 crore contract) has a problem. (scroll right down for this part)
�I want to keep a driver but the kind of schedule I keep from early morning to late night, I don�t think any driver would survive.
There are so many commitments and functions to attend, so […]

This may be why my mother remembers lots of things about me that I’d rather she forget.

Abheek Barman makes a bold suggestion in today’s Times
the only policy that makes sense for India is this: Export governance and institutions to Nepal. Run it as a protectorate.
I.e. invade Nepal, and rebuild it’s institutions, strenghthen democracy, rule of law, it’s economy (market based?), etc. On paper it sounds good. But leaving aside realpolitik hurdles […]

Yes, sanity, not insanity. It seems sex might just help fend off dementia. No idea whether if the research is junk or not, but it sounds like fun!

While Bombay rocked yesterday afternoon; I, surprisingly, felt nothing. Some of my colleagues rushed out, consulted our neighbours, and all agreed that they’d felt a tremor. All, that is, except me.
It seems that I’m not easily swayed!
Here’s a piece on it in today’s Mid-Day. Interesting para below:
BMC�s disaster management cell
Vilas Vaidya, in-charge of […]

Last month, Amit Varma wrote about liberal / libertarian and their shifting meanings. For me, the best point on these labels is made by David Boaz in his book Libertarianism: A Primer. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s website:
The right term for the advocates of civil society and free markets is arguably socialist. Thomas […]

Dilip D’Souza’s comment on an earlier post provoked me to search for Fred Cuny. What a man and what a life led!
Here’s an introduction from onlineethics.org
Fred Cuny was a disaster relief specialist who used his training in engineering to do humanitarian work. He worked in countries such as Biafra, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Iraq, Somalia, and Bosnia. […]

I’m currently reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point and along comes a brief post on Marginal Revolution with a profile of Malcolm Gladwell. The book is on “social epidemics” and is fascinating read (await the review folks!)

I’m currently reading Lynne Truss’s excellent Eats, Shoots & Leaves. After searching high and low for a paperback copy (I generally don’t like lugging hardcovers), I finally found one at Book Zone on Dadabhai Naoroji Road. I also discovered that Book Zone is run by the same friends who run the excellent Sterling […]

This is just what I needed to motivate me to run a bit more.
Endurance running, unique to humans among primates and uncommon in all mammals other than dogs, horses and hyenas, apparently evolved at least two million years ago and probably let human ancestors hunt and scavenge over great distances. That was probably decisive in […]

Social transformation is very much like preparing dahi (curds / yogurt). First, we need the jaman (bacterial culture). This is really “us” � we who work in the area of public policy / changing mindsets etc (I don�t much like the term �social worker�). This culture is largely elitist. Most social change, including revolutions, has […]

Just in case you want to know, this is how.

Ever seen something in design stage where the web designer / publisher has put what seems to be random text with “Lorem Ipsum” as the title? Check out the design templates in MS PowerPoint for an example.
Lorem Ipsum has a pretty interesting history. For one, it’s not random text, it’s Latin (sometimes mangled, but […]

If you’re in Bangalore, please visit Madhu’s new restaurant, Shiok Far-Eastern Cuisine that serves great Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Singaporean food. The restaurant is on CMH Road, Indiranagar, Bangalore.
Madhu also shakes a mean cocktail and runs a super chef’s blog with recipes and tips.
I know all this from personal experience. I have visited Shiok […]

‘Punjabi quizzer’ is universally considered an oxymoron among all South Indians
Very true.

Bill Clinton’s autobiography might be topping best seller lists, but the Economist obviously doesn’t think too much of it.
The former president�s long-winded account of his journey from poverty in Arkansas to million-dollar book advances, via Oxford and the White House. Long on lists and short on editorial discipline, it seems fated to lie unread on […]

So you’ve already heard from Yazad that we’re devising an exam for entry into the CapLib (Capitalist Libertarian) Cartel for deserving men and women. WTF, you ask? You can’t believe that such a thing can actually happen? Well, here are some possible reasons for having a proper “entrance exam” for entry into this august body:
1) […]