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Tiny Tales of Mullah Nasruddin
Mullah Nasruddin is a character who often comes up in Islamic folk stories. These stories are full of wit, brilliance and wisdom. Which is why, they are told, retold and recreated not only in the Islamic world but outside too. Now, you might ask, who was this Mullah Nasruddin? Nasruddin Hodja, better known as Mullah… Read more
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Introduction to the Yoga Philosophy
Millions of people practice Yoga all over the world. However, most of them treat it as an exercise routine, without really caring to understand the Yoga philosophy. This is like smelling a cup of coffee and not actually drinking it — nothing wrong with it, just that, you miss the real thing. What is the… Read more
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The Prophet on Eating and Drinking
No, not that one. That would be preposterous. As we only discuss books, here too we are talking about a book called The Prophet. Written by Kahlil Gibran and published in 1923, the book has never been out of print. It has inspired generations of artists, writers, lovers and romantics. The prose-style poetry of it… Read more
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Podcast: Understanding the Israel Palestine Conflict
The Israeli Palestinian conflict is the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the mid-20th century. What we are seeing right now, and in the last few weeks, is only a glimpse of its decade-long history. So what is that history? And what is this conflict really about? We discuss all these questions… Read more
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Kanji: The Millennia-Old Rice Recipe
It is called jook or zhou or geng in China, zuk in Korea, chao bo in Vietnam, lugaw in Philippines, okayu in Japan, khao tom gung in Thailand. But its most popular name is of Indian origin – ‘congee’, which comes from the Tamil word kanji. What is it? We are talking about that wondrous,… Read more
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What is Good Writing? Steven Pinker Answers
Every writer, at least in her sane moments, yearns for her prose to be deemed good. Yet, what delineates quality writing from the mundane remains a mystery to many. While instincts often guide our judgements, isn’t there a more defined metric for literary excellence? Or to be more precise, let’s ask ourselves this simple question:… Read more
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