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Ending 2019
This blog achieved multiple minor but personally enjoyable milestones in 2019: * It was read by people in 143 counties, the highest in a single year since 2008 (when I started
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A personal manifesto
Many people who are unsure of how their work can help put out the various (figurative) fires ravaging the country at the moment often quickly conclude that purpose is best
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My country is burning. Why should I work?
A few days ago, I found asking myself the following question: My country is burning, why should I work? I ended up with some (admittedly inchoate) thoughts, delineated below. I’
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The gaudy-hued beast
When you wake up in the morning to news of four people who allegedly raped a woman having been shot to death by the police, it's hard not
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Two things
First As a professional science journalist, I've accrued a long list of 'contacts' in India and abroad, so whenever I discuss my career prospects with friends,
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Quitting the Thing
A year ago today, I quit the Thing. The Thing didn't quit me until three months later, and spending those months not getting back to the Thing was
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The invitations
First, I was invited to speak at a science communication meeting in X in November. Next, I was invited to host an event at Y around the same date. Then
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The virtues of local travel
Here's something I wish I'd read before overtourism and flygskam removed the pristine gloss of desirability from the selfies, 360º panoramas and videos the second-generation elites
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Fear and delight
Earlier this week, I published my 1,100th blog post on this site. It hasn’t been a long and great journey because it hasn’t been a journey, per
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Fortitude
What's the point of sweating to compose a good argument when the reader doesn't exist who will rebut it instead of nosing around to figure out
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Good writing is an atom
https://twitter.com/HochTwit/status/1174875013708746752 The act of writing well is like an atom, or the universe. There is matter but it is thinly distributed, with lots of empty
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One-track mind on a flight
The air hostess I just paid 300 rupees to mistook the 100-rupee note for a 50, and realised her mistake only when I asked her for the change. She said
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Fog of war
August 2019 was a crappy month. I’m just emerging from nasty fevers of the body and mind and haven’t fully recovered yet. I’ve become more cynical in
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Being understood
Before the definitive version of Blade Runner was due to be released in April 2015, Michael Newton re-reviewed the film for The Guardian, where he wrote: If the film suggests
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Update on the reading habit
My reading habit has taken a hit this year. There has been more to do at work so I haven’t been able to find the time, but for the