The woman who put the man on the Moon, and the birth of software engineering – Margaret Hamilton
On the 20th of July 1969, Apollo II landed successfully on the Moon. It is now a familiar picture in[…]
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Latest Posts
“Don’t Look Up” – A movie that fails to get the message across.
One of my fondest memories of 1980’s television was the telecast of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos each week. I don’t need[…]
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu ( 1931 – 2021) – an incredible human being, a towering leader, an incisive thinker, an egalitarian philosopher, and a powerful activist.
It must have been an odd moment at the Johannesburg airport that day in the December of 1986. Archbishop Desmond[…]
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The power of the dog – A Jane campion movie. A work of cinematic brilliance.
There is an unmistakable stamp on Jane Campion films. They are all beautifully shot, hauntingly slow, have a brilliant star[…]
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Thoughts on writing
The opening paragraph in Barbara Tuchman’s magnificently written and critically acclaimed “The Guns of August”—her Pulitzer winning book on the[…]
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NIIT Foundation day – a few thoughts
There are instances when an organization transcends its charter and becomes a social force assuming a broader and deeper place[…]
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The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes – the poster girl of the Silicon Valley
(Note: After nearly four years, since charges were officially filed against Elizabeth holmes, the case is now in court. The[…]
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Annaatthe – Strictly only for obsessed and fanatical Rajni fans.
( A side note: Just last week, I happened to re-read German Philosopher Frederick Nietzsche’s brilliant book ” Thus spake[…]
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Do our jobs align with what we can and want to do? – a few thoughts
रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् | स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेय: परधर्मो भयावह: śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śhreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ ([…]
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Jai Bhim – a good solid movie, and excellent performances
I love the title: “Jai Bhim”. Though this essay is a movie review, I would like to spend a couple[…]
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Diwali – a secular, egalitarian, and joyous festival
The light, this Diwali will bring tomorrow is special. Never in our generation have we struggled so much with darkness[…]
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Halloween – a sweet and therapeutically terrifying myth.
To me, Halloween will always remain a day to revisit some of my favorite horror and slasher movies or to[…]
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Forever, the present – The case of Clive Wearing and the question of memory, identity, and love.
All of us have experienced moments in our lives when we couldn’t remember or recollect something from the past. That[…]
Read moreThe nine sacralized nights, and the victorious tenth ( Navratri and Vijayadasami)
Religious symbols and myths are not references to historical events, they are often pointers to one’s own state of being,[…]
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Sophie’s choice – William Styron’s literary masterpiece.
There are only a few books in English Literature whose titles have become part of the vernacular, of daily speech.[…]
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Freshdesk – the making of a Decacorn – The phenomenal achievement of entrepreneur Girish Mathrubootham and his team.
It is only an elite group of Indian software companies that have made it to Nasdaq, arguably the most glamorous[…]
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The tell-tale signs of a good software developer.
A coder, developer, programmer, software engineer — all these roles are synonyms in the modern-day. No matter what we call[…]
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It was not Djokovic’s day – The US open men’s final 2021
A quote that is usually attributed to Frederick Nietzsche, the German philosopher, says, “ When we are tired, we are[…]
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The clash of the teenagers – vivacity, exuberance, grace, and quality tennis at the US Open Women’s final 2021
The two young women who played the US open 2021 finals today have very short Wikipedia pages. Not a surprise[…]
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Reflections on the 09/11 tragedy, The question of worth vs value in the victim compensation fund, and the work of Kenneth Feinberg.
( Preface: September 11th, 2021 marks the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy at the twin towers. For my generation, the[…]
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Remembering Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — A wonderful teacher, a profound philosopher, and a consummate Statesman
The year — 1952. A touching moment in history: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, walked into Joseph Stalin’s spacious and ornately furnished office[…]
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Loss, grief and the moving memoir of Joan Didion “The year of magical thinking”
Loss is one thing, grief is something else. When one loses somebody close, there is an immediate void, an existential[…]
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For the love of the printed word, and the fascinating lives of two Jewish ladies in the service of books.
A few weeks ago, I visited a colleague’s home in Atlanta for a get-together. It was a beautiful home, spacious,[…]
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The digital divide, the generation gap, and #Home – a sensitive Malayalam film that meaningfully captures the rippling effects of a digitized world within a family)
In 2014, a very penetrating book written by Erik Brynjolfsson ( a tongue twister of a name), director at MIT[…]
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The trials and tribulations of the Afghanis
The people of Afghanistan are unfortunate victims of geography. For centuries the mountainous terrains of this country – populated by[…]
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August 15th and Friday the 13th
Chronological dates have significant importance for us. So it should be. it is a reassuring measure, and it is deeply[…]
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August 6th, 1945 – the day that changed the course of history. Seventy-six years since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing.
( Preface: Last year was the seventy-fifth anniversary of the atomic bombings on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[…]
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“Navarasa” – the mini-series. My first impressions of the first few episodes.
The word Rasa in Sanskrit cannot be adequately defined. It has no specific meaning, other than indicating a sense of[…]
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Mrs. Dalloway – the crescendo of Virginia Woolf’s art as a novelist and an observer of human nature
There are literary masterpieces, whose beauty and force can only be experienced by approaching the work after a necessary period[…]
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Thoughts on the sexes, surrogacy, and “Mimi” – a film I thoroughly enjoyed
One of the puzzling and unresolved questions in evolutionary biology is this mysterious need for two sexes- male and female[…]
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The Presidential debates, and a backward glance at one of the greatest debates in American history
The American Presidential debates are part of a wonderful democratic process. It gives the people an opportunity to witness prospective[…]
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A hundred years of Hercule Poirot, and thoughts on Agatha Christie
On the evening of 3rd of December 1926, a thirty-six-year-old Agatha Christie, by then, a fairly established novelist, kissed her[…]
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Toofan and Sarpatta parambarai – two movies that attempt to showcase boxing. My thoughts..)
Barbara Tuchman, my favorite historian had a simple piece of advice pasted on her desk ” Will the reader turn[…]
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“The old guard” -A comic series and a brilliant movie that explores the theme of immortality
If there is one thing, Man will pay any price, sacrifice everything; it is to live physically young forever. The[…]
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Will and Ariel Durant – an extraordinary intellectual journey in letters. A tribute to their life and work.
( Preface: I wrote this piece on October 25th, 2018 in New Jersey. Around forty years ago, between October 23rd[…]
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Robert H Dennard – the IBM Fellow emeritus, and the innovation of Random Access Memory or RAM
As of 2018, out of hundreds of thousands of IBM employees around the globe, only 295 are IBM Fellow Emeritus[…]
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Wimbledon 2021 Finals (Ladies & Gentlemen) – thoughts and musings.
There was a period when Australians dominated the Wimbledon Championships. Between 1960 and 1970, Rod Laver, Margaret Court, John Newcombe,[…]
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Dr. Victor Frankl ” Man’s search for meaning”
On my way back to Atlanta from one of my trips, a young man rushed into the flight, almost at[…]
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Dilip Kumar passes away. A few thoughts on his acting career and life
On Wednesday this week, the thespian Dilip Kumar passed away at the age of ninety-eight, bringing down the curtains on[…]
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Adolf Eichmann, The trial of the century, Hannah Arendt’s bold hypotheses and its resonance in modern times
( Note to readers: Even by my own standards, this is a lengthy essay. Hannah Arendt is one of my[…]
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Arvind Adiga’s “The White Tiger” – the book, the context, and the 2021 Netflix movie
Arvind Adiga’s 2008 Booker prize-winning book “The white tiger” may not be remembered in the long run for its flowery[…]
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Drishyam 2 – A beautifully crafted sequel by Jeethu Joseph)
In 1950, Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” created a sensation in world cinema. It still remains one of the most powerful movies[…]
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The sublime art of Sunil Gavaskar – A celebration of fifty years in Cricket
If the cricketing bat was a painting brush, then Sunil Gavaskar was its Rembrandt – a master of technique and[…]
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Nomadland – Director Chloe Zhao’s rich, meaningful, and visually beautiful meditation on life.
The word Nomad is derived from the Greek root “Nomas” — a wandering shepherd, someone who lives their life in[…]
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Quo Vadis, Aida? – a sensitive portrayal of a heart-wrenching genocide and its aftermath
It is one of the tragedies of modern times, fueled by the rapid explosion of news and our continuous exposure[…]
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Is this the end? Roger Federer – Wimbledon 2021
When the champion hit the ball wide of his backhand, his trademark shot, a shot Federer has perfected over the[…]
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Wimbledon 2021 a spectacle to be cherished
There is something about Wimbledon that makes it one of the most anticipated, prestigious, and watchable sporting events of the[…]
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P. Jayachandran – the voice of emotions.
Singer P. Jayachandran’s name may not be well known outside Southern India. In the South, however, his name is synonymous[…]
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Singham Again: A masterclass in cinematic torture
I shouldn’t be writing about Singham Again. It doesn’t deserve anyone’s time at all. Still, I do so only as[…]
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Finding your swing: Bhagavad Gita’s wisdom on the Golf course in the book “The Legend of Bagger Vance”
One of the reasons why the Bhagavad Gita has such a universal appeal is the setting and atmosphere in which[…]
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“When we cease to understand the world.” – a beautifully conceived literary tour-de-force by Benjamin Labatut.
A few months ago, The New York Times released a list of the top 100 books published in the first[…]
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Dr. Manmohan Singh ( 1932 – 2024)
The only time I had the privilege to listen to Nani Palkhivala, the eminent constitutional lawyer and scholar, live was[…]
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Remembering Atalji’s speech in Parliment on his 100th birth anniversary on 25th December.
I can never forget that day in the Indian parliament—27th May 1996. I watched the event live on television. Even[…]
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My introduction to Opera and Pablo Larraín’s haunting portrait of Maria Callas on NetFlix.
I started listening to opera by accident. In 2014, to satisfy a long-standing whim, I bought a cheap vinyl player—one[…]
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Wah Ustad! Remembering the Genius of Zakir Hussain
Just as most people can recall only a handful of Nobel laureates’ names, the same is true for Indian classical[…]
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Amaran: A well-made tribute to a soldier’s sacrifice
A soldier’s journey often begins with a personal impulse—a need to find meaning, purpose, and heroism beyond the ordinary. Patriotism,[…]
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Remembering Jayalalitha on her eighth death anniversary
(Note: I wrote two pieces on my Facebook page: one on 5th December 2016 (Part 1) and one on 4th[…]
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