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Iqbal’s Ode to the Himalayas
Muhammad Iqbal, the National Poet of Pakistan, was born in British India. In the early twentieth century, his poetry emerged as a remarkable site where message and art coalesced, as he re-configured major poetic devices like metaphor, myth, and symbol to re-visit history, philosophy and the Islamic faith to develop his individual vision. While his…
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When Mark Twain Took a Train to Darjeeling
The year was 1894. Mark Twain, the great American writer, had gone bankrupt due to some poor investment choices. Therefore, in order to extricate himself from the debt, he undertook a journey through the British Empire, which, back then, meant pretty much the entire world. The route provided a wonderful opportunity for Twain to deliver…
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A Mughal Emperor in Kashmir
April, 1606: The recently crowned Mughal Emperor Jahangir leaves the fort of Lahore, and after crossing a river, he reaches the foothills of the Himalayas. Clearly we are not the only ones to seek refuge in these mountains for a summer vacation — the Mughals did that too. Along the way, Jahangir also remembers his…
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Fa-Hien in the Himalayas
Fa-Hien, also spelled as Faxian, was a Chinese Buddhist monk, who, like many other monks of the time, liked to travel. Between CE 399 and 412, he travelled from China to India (today’s India, Pakistan and Afghanistan) and Sri Lanka and back. In his travel accounts, he describes his journey through Buddhist sites and kingdoms…
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Stories of 1940s’ Bollywood by Manto
Saadat Hasan Manto, one of the greatest short story writers of the Urdu language, was also a film journalist for Bollywood (then referred to as Hindi Film Industry). As an insider he was privy to the most private moments of the men and women who have dazzled generations of audiences. Thankfully, just like a good…
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Yuval Noah Harari on How Wheat Manipulated Us
Yuval Noah Harari, in his book Sapiens, makes a bold claim that the invention of farming was the biggest fraud in the history of humanity. He particularly substantiates this claim by discussing the role of wheat production in altering the lifestyle of our species. Let’s take a look at what he says. Sapiens had been…
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Medical Maladies: Meditations on Illness
Illness is a part of life. It may not be a pleasant one, it may not help anyone, but, try as you may, you cannot always deny it the entry. Even if you – somehow – manage to stay away from it, you’d inevitably see it around you. What do we do, then? Everyone who…
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A Case for the Presidential System in India
Should there be a presidential system in India? Or… is the parliamentary system working just fine? Author Bhanu Dhamija presents a strong case for the presidential system in his book Why India Needs the Presidential System. In this post we will consider his argument and see what this could mean to the Indian political landscape.…
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