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 the last few weeks – which I didn’t think was poss…
Life notes
113 posts
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 a connection here that D…
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 sake of keeping up the reading habit, I have tried to complete at lea…
Blogging as a response to the times
I have been a blogger since 2009. I started during the penultimate year of my undergraduate studies as a way to interrogate my own ideas and interpretations of the nonfiction books I started to read a…
To be a depressed person reading about research on depression
It’s a strangely unsettling experience to read about research on an affliction that one has, to understand how scientists are obtaining insights into it using a variety of techniques that allow them t…
Justifying organic chemistry
Johanna Miller writes in Physics Today about how she was able to enjoy learning organic chemistry in her senior year of undergraduate study: by understanding that science is a collection of concepts,…
Seven years
Today, I complete seven years as a journalist. Scratch that. Today, I complete seven years in the journalism industry. Wait, scratch that too. Today, I complete 6.58 years in the journalism indust…
The fiction of men
After you find out that a male writer has been a lesser person than you thought he was, have you found it harder to read and appreciate his work? I bet you have. I'm sure it's the case with…
Rich-poor divide
Deadly air exposes rich-poor divide, Channel News Asia, March 21, 2019: Delhi's affluent, who are often better informed about the dangers of pollution, increasingly expect the same safety measure…
6.35 pm
The world was a bowl A container of things With cities at the bottom Like the abyss turned upside down Stars blinked back from below When ancient volcanoes erupted Orange lava assembled on the rim…
Lightning strikes and sex
No, not that sex. Biological sex. In the past eight years, an astounding 80 percent of those killed by lightning strikes have been men. This astonishing statistic is from an article in Bustle, from…
Reading Manto
What is a short story? If you were to visualise the completeness of a 'long-story' as arcs of different lengths on a circle, then I would say a finished novel could be 90% of the circumferenc…