As I wrote last month, Alberto Moravia was the literary discovery of 2025 for me. His wife Elsa Morante was also a celebrated writer best known for her novels ‘Arturo’s Island’ and ‘History’. Their marriage was a stormy affair (literary icons you see), and Moravia himself had at one point confessed: There were days when … Continue reading The Moravia–Morante Marriage
Florence today has a population of around 360,000 and an area of around 100 sq km. ChatGPT informs me that the equivalent Indian city to Florence would be Sambalpur. For nearly three centuries, beginning in the thirteenth century, Florence produced an extraordinary constellation of luminaries who launched the Renaissance and changed the course of our … Continue reading The Miracle of Florence
If there’s one unmistakable feature of our society today, it should be the falling birth rates. Unlike the generation of our parents, its quite common today to come across couples who have voluntarily decided to not have kids. Having a first baby in your 30s is common. And anyone having more than two children are … Continue reading Fertility Rates, Gender Equality and the Math of Human Extinction
I visited the Muthappan temple in Parassinikkadavu, Kannur for the first time yesterday. While I’ve seen mice, cows, monkeys, eagles and peacocks as guardians to deities, it was the first time I encountered a dog at the entrance to the sanctum. Dogs chilling around the temple Dogs guarding the main sanctum of Muthappan The Muthappan … Continue reading Parassinikkadavu Muthappan
During the Christmas break, I spent three days visiting Kerala’s most celebrated tourist destination – Munnar. The place lives up to its reputation for natural beauty. Contrary to my expectations, the ‘concrete jungle’ that I was bracing for was largely absent for most of the trip. But the tragedy was to see how rudimentary most … Continue reading Munnar Notes
Phantom Thread: I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a conventional artist–muse relationship that slowly turns into a strange psychological duel. Daniel Day Lewis has such screen presence that his performance alone made the movie worth watching. The Sacrifice: My first encounter with Andrei Tarkovsky’s work was far from easy. The film demands absolute attention and … Continue reading What I Watched – December 2025
The hyperlinks take you to my reviews…. Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life by Agnes Callard The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989 by Frederick Taylor Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia by Sam Dalrymple 1493: Uncovering the New … Continue reading Best Non Fiction 2025
The hyperlinks take you to my reviews…. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet - My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay The Story of the Lost Child Kiran Desai’s ‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny' Dickens’ ‘The Bleak House’ Alberto Moravia was … Continue reading Best Fiction – 2025
Velasquez's 'Las Meninas' - one of the most analyzed paintings in all of art history makes an appearance in Samantha Harvey's Booker-shortlisted 'Orbital'. The painting as we know is a complex take on reality, perception, reflection and interpretation. Velázquez places himself within the scene as the painter, yet the true subject of his canvas remains … Continue reading The Dog in Velasquez’s ‘Las Meninas’
The Comedy of Errors is considered to be one of the first plays of Shakespeare and is also his shortest. Double roles and mistaken identities often serve as easy gateways for displaying a writer's ingenuity; Shakespeare, however, raises the stakes by introducing two sets of identical twins, allowing confusion itself to drive the comedy. The … Continue reading The Comedy of Errors
