India’s museums and heritage institutions are at a crossroads. The digital age offers incredible tools to preserve and promote culture, but it also demands clarity, intention, and collaboration. The future lies in building a community of professionals who understand both the value of tradition and the power of technology.
If you have ever felt the dopamine rush from a like or comment, or have scrolled past your bedtime, you are one of the millions entrenched in this system. According to recent studies, the average person spends two hours and 24 minutes on social media daily. Each interaction—whether it’s a curated ad, a filtered photo, or even a friend’s post becomes material that subtly shapes how we see ourselves and the world around us.
So, what is the smell of autumn about? Is it the change in weather, from an otherwise hot tropical condition or is it the festivals, the food, the lights and the colours? What is it that really makes this feeling so special? Perhaps it is a realisation of moments of loss and happiness and a sense of comfort - all strung across the same thread
Our daughter, Ileana Ann, was born in Dubai. However, now, at two years old. She’s being taught to know the anthem of India better than “Dil Dil Pakistan”. Just beginning to string together words, tottering between rooms with a giggle that sounds the same in any language. Born with a passport that bears the tricolor — yet half her heartbeat echoes from across the Wagah border.
The preservation of sacred trees and tree groves is paramount in the fight against rampant deforestation in India. This is a unique practice that sadly is in decline; in the interest of cleaner air and healthy communities, it needs to be promoted and preserved, not only amongst the Indian population but worldwide.
The new influencing geopolitical factor, Ved observes, is the emergence of China as the regional, even global player, in the “Heart of Asia” in what can become the new avatar of the 19th century “Great Game”. The contexts have changed, but not the strategic interests of the players, old and new.
This historic expedition, the first of its kind, marks a significant milestone in India’s maritime history.
Quite a few years ago I had given a lecture at my alma mater IIT Kanpur. I asked the students if I had the power to grant them a US green card how many would like to migrate. In the auditorium of around 200 students most raised their hands. This pursuit of excellence can be helped by the constant exposure of students to lectures by achievers. Students at an impressionable age once inspired can do wonders in later life.
We must also insulate enterprises from pressure and extortion by local power elites, which adversely distorts factory pricing and ultimately adds a burden to the consumer price. This will also enable enterprises to maintain healthy returns within the fixed MRP system, especially for FMCG
Despite all my patriotic feelings, I do not recommend a visit to Kashmir. It is ill-organized and ill-prepared to receive the rush of tourists. It lacks elementary infrastructure, basic amenities, and essential facilities at present. Worse, the tourists are always at the mercy of the local mafia.
This production of matter, life forms and galaxies will keep on happening till the space is “exhausted”, and then the cycle reverses which will finally lead to time and space coming into equilibrium. This is the eternal Brahmakala cycle where all life is destroyed at its end.
As someone from Karachi, where heritage and culture find little importance and are often forgotten, where the metropolis pushes the seashore backward, the Sri Lankan experience felt surreal. The land of Ridi Vihare held impeccable beauty and gave us much to learn and take back.
The ‘peacemongers’ vowed to not only continue talking to each other, but to continue talking until they achieve their dream, their Sapan, of a South Asia with soft borders, or at least, ease of visas.
The common theme is a tilting of truth and in most cases glorification of Hindu nationalist icons. The clever undermining of truth and building up of ‘fiction as fact’ is the underlying theme of most of these films.
Attention must also be paid to the changing structural dynamics within South Asia where countries (including Bangladesh) are increasingly working with each other, moving away from a primarily India-driven engagement within the neighbourhood.
"Gandi Baat" serves as a microcosm of a larger issue within popular culture, normalizing the silencing of female voices and perpetuating harmful behaviors.
The postcards from Jamnagar frame some other stories that have emerged as a theme in the 'New India'. These are stories of unrivalled pomp and power, of material riches beyond compare, of an elite space where forces work differently from the way they work elsewhere on the planet.
Everywhere I went I was greeted with great warmth and hospitality. It is a symbol of the decades-long ‘Enduring Friendship’ between the peoples of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
My passion was to strengthen SAARC, and I strongly felt that Rao’s decision was not appropriate.
