The Political Origins of the United Nations
When the Charter of the United Nations was signed on 26th June 1945, the Second World War was still raging in the Pacific. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were yet to happen. And colonialism was very much alive...
View ArticleThe World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle
If you were an East German during the Cold War, the Stasi (East German Secret Police) scrutinized every aspect of your life. Letters would be read, houses and offices would be bugged, suspects could be...
View ArticleSome Kodagu Facts
Though Coorg (Kodagu) is close to Kozhikode, I’ve never visited the place. My only ‘connection’ must be the fact that Sruthi’s cousin is married to a native of Coorg. Last week, on a visit to Patna, I...
View ArticleTwelfth Night
Soon after finishing ‘Twelfth Night’, I watched the 1996 movie adaptation by Trevor Nunn and was better able to appreciate the play. Four hundred years before gender, queerness and homoerotic love...
View Articlele Carré’s ‘The Karla Trilogy’
I’ve been reading up on the Cold War and the Iron Curtain and naturally ended up shortlisting John le Carre’s Karla Trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honorable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People –...
View ArticleWhat I Watched – April 2025
Sector 36: Watched it with my cousins during my trip to Palakkad. Massey, with his baby face, was a wrong choice to play this real-life monster. Alaipayuthe: When I returned, Sruthi was midway through...
View ArticleAgartala Notes
I returned from Agartala yesterday. The one-day trip for work was my maiden visit to the state. The sheer distance and the fact that one has to cross the Bangladeshi airspace made the journey quite...
View Article“Written kisses don’t reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the...
I love texting. Texts are a constant companion for me – quick check-ins, official work, deep chats late in the night, banter in the family groups are all various forms of texting that I (and probably...
View ArticleAs You Like It
Apparently, this is what qualifies as a pastoral comedy – one which has a countryside setting, rustic simpletons and displays a clash between the cosmopolitans and the rest. Of all of Shakespeare’s...
View ArticleOn Tickling
Ever wondered why we never tickle adults? Tickling can be violent, humiliating, sexual and rarely playful. Its always an act that dwells in a liminal space. It mirrors the ambivalence of most of our...
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