India @79

 

Happy Birthday India!

'Tis time for the annual India post on the occasion of Independence Day, now in its 19th edition (Link for 2025 edition) Its been another weird trip around the Sun!

The nation's political landscape was shaken up by the emergence of a Gen Z movement sparked by a remark from the CJI. A movement based on a cause but fueled by reels! We have witnessed similar uprisings across the neighborhood but couldn't watching it unfold in India was surreal. All election calculations now need to take into account the mindset of an entirely new & different vote-bank! 

On the other hand, we have elected politicians merrily switching parties, making a complete mockery of the entire electoral process itself! While the common citizen is scrambling to prove their citizenship (given that none of the documents actually prove it!) and trying to search the electoral rolls from 2002 for the names of their relatives. Sifting through them is a mental roller-coaster given the sheer volume of typos and the fact that most of the constituencies themselves have undergone a drastic change due to delimitation. There couldn't be a better showcase of bureaucratic theatre than the SIR exercise!!

Moving from politics to the subject of geopolitics. A full scale war in West Asia, leads to choking of key energy transport routes sending most of the World including India to scour for alternate options. The situation may have eased out a bit but things continue to remain volatile, once again emphasizing the critical need for assured domestic energy supply.

And the energy must to be clean & green. Otherwise the already scorching heat wave is going to get hotter. The energy transition also needs to be fast especially with the emergence of AI as an energy guzzler. In the age of AI, it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate the real from the fake. The more cynical folks now believe everything to be AI generated unless proven otherwise. Better to be safe than sorry in a more AI propelled scammy world.

On the other hand, lots of infrastructure being built but somehow not built to last. Falling bridges, potholed roads, leaking airports - this is one area which needs a permanent fix and not a bandaid solution.

Real money gaming was banned. Good riddance. Something which should have happened much earlier.  Still better late than never! This ban has also lead to a pause in the mushrooming sporting leagues. 

Given that it is still midway in the Olympics cycle, most Indian sports coverage is in a slumber. While sports administration is in shambles. Perfect example being football where an ISL champion club was sold for Rs. 100! India now holds the unwanted tag of being the global leader in doping violations. In this doom and gloom of the back pages of the newspaper the only silver linings have come from cricket - with the Women winning their first ever world title , the men retaining the T20 World Cup, and a 15-year old wunderkind blazing away all and sundry with his bat without a care in the world

So this was it as we enter into the 80th year of existence as an independent country.

Happy Independence Day! 

Jai Hind!

P.S. a map showing the princely states of pre-independence India coloured according to the number of gun salutes!

Bees Saal Baad!

13th August 2006

In the wee hours of one rainy night, sitting in the hostel room, exactly 20 years ago, this blog came into existence with the following

The Genesis

Why am I doing this?

Why did I start this blog?

Will anyone ever read this?

Do I really care if anyone reads this at all?

Why do I want to share my thoughts with the world?

The answer to all the above questions...

...simply, I dont know. I am not sure of the answers but it...

maybe I am doing this because its the latest fad.

or maybe I want an outlet for my feelings

or maybe I want another connection with the outside world

Or maybe at 1 A.M on a Saturday (actually Sunday) night I couldnt find anything better to do...so started a blog

Well, with these confused thoughts, I have made a beginning. I do not know where this journey is going to take me. I do not know what the destination is, I dont even know the route. But as its said "A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step".....This is my first step.

That first tentative step has been followed by a few more (more than 500 in fact). A journey which has lasted 20 years now. Just how old is this blog - to give a perspective, in 2006, Orkut (now defunct) was the social media rage, Facebook was still not available outside campuses, Twitter (now X) did not exist, Chatting medium were Yahoo Messenger & GTalk, not WhatsApp, internet was still more text dominated, unlike its more visual avatar now, and still dominated by computer rather than mobile! It pre-dates amongst other things - iPhone, Instagram, streaming services! In short, in tech terms - quite old! And despite all the changes, this blog trundled on!

To be honest, I still do not have the answers to the questions raised in the very first post. The posts themselves have evolved over time - random, cricket, few personal incidents, movies, to now - books (just me showing off), India's roads to the Olympics (in itself a long journey and not just once-in-four-years-event), year-end lists (TYIL & others) and the annual Independence Day post. Reading back, some of the posts are quite weird & cringe-worthy, but I guess that part of growing up as well!

And across this journey of 500+ posts over 20 years, there is also a realization that the blog was never for an audience but just for myself! Here is to the unscripted route and wherever it goes next!!!

Road To Los Angeles: Episode 7

Well, its been quite a while since the last episode on the Road To LA. After a prolonged hiatus, time to get this journey back on its path!

Since the last edition quite a few things have happened!

The Women's Cricket Team is the first from India to get a quota place via being the highest placed Asian team at the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Meanwhile the Men's team is in prolonged slump after having successfully defended their own World Championships title!

In Hockey, the women's team returns to the Pro League, while the Men just about retain their place. Both have World Cups coming soon.

Athletics has seen a slew of records being shattered including some long standing ones. While great to see the progress being made, we still are quite a bit away from the world standards. To give a perspective, in most of the events, our current National Records are at the same level, where the World Records were in 1960s & 70s. So, while the improvement is there, there is still a long way to go. Meanwhile a mention for Sarvesh Kushare for a 3rd place finish on Diamond league debut.

Also PV Sindhu has returned to winning ways with the Japan Open title

On the other hand, wrestling continues to be a mess, with Vinesh Phogat's return symbolizing all the chaos that is the sport in India.

Worse however, is India topping the list of doping offenders. Not something to be proud of.

Farewell and RIP Jaspal Rana, the man who brought Shooting into the news in the 1990s.

Now, over to the Commonwealth Games starting soon.

Qualification Summary for Team India: Sports 1, Events 1, Entries 1, Athletes 15

Till next time!

BookMarks #142: Alberuni's India

Title: Alberuni's India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India About A.D.1030

Author: Edward Sachau

Genre: History, Culture

Published: 1910

BookMarks

Translation of Al-Beruni's Kitab ta'rikh al-Hind, an enyclopedia on India of 1030 AD. This is an account of learnings from his stay in India, where he was sent by Sultan Mahmud of Persia. Quite a vast work of knowledge from someone who spent considerable time trying to learn a new place's history, customs, religion, philosophy, literature, science, astronomy, maths.

Following are some of the takes from the book

Views on Hindus (the resident of Hind)

• Maḥmûd utterly ruined the prosperity of the country, and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions, and like a tale of old in the mouth of the people. Their scattered remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion towards all Muslims. This is the reason, too, why Hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us, and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet reach, to Kashmir, Benares, and other places. And there the antagonism between them and all foreigners receives more and more nourishment both from political and religious sources.
• Hindus believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs. They are haughty, foolishly vain, self-conceited, and stolid. They are by nature niggardly in communicating that which they know, and they take the greatest possible care to withhold it from men of another caste among their own people, still much more, of course from any foreigner. According to their belief, there is no other country on earth but theirs, no other race of man but theirs, and no created.
• If they travelled and mixed with other nations, they would soon change their mind, for their ancestors were not as narrow-minded as the present generation is.
• The Hindus, like other people, boast of this enormous range of their language, whilst in reality it is a defect.

On knowledge & Vedas

• The scholars are well aware of the use of money, but the rich are ignorant of the nobility of science.
• Between man and God there are a thousand stages of light and darkness. Men exert themselves to pass through darkness to light, and when they have attained to the stations of light, there is no return for them.
• Veda means knowledge of that which was before unknown. It is a religious system which, according to the Hindus, comes from God, and was promulgated by the mouth of Brahman. The Brahmins recite the Veda without understanding its meaning, and in the same way they learn it by heart, the one receiving it from the other. Only few of them learn its explanation, and still less is the number of those who master the contents of the Veda and their interpretation to such a degree as to be able to hold a theological disputation.
• The Brahmins teach the Veda to the Kshatriyas. The latter learn it, but are not allowed to teach it, not even to a Brahmin. The Vaiśya and Śûdra are not allowed to hear it, much less to pronounce and recite it.
• If the Hindus happen to get some book which does not yet exist among them, they set at work to change it into Ślokas, which are rather unintelligible.
• The word dharma means reward, but in general it is used for religion

On Living Bodies

• There are three classes of them the spiritual ones in the height, men in the middle, and animals in the depth. Their species are fourteen in number, eight of which belong to the spiritual beings: Brahman, Indra, Prajâpati, Saumya, Gandharva, Yaksha, Râkshasa, and Piśâca. Five species are those of the animals — cattle, wild beasts, birds, creeping things, and growing things, i.e. the trees. And, lastly,. one species is represented by man.’”

On Hindu way of life

• They use turbans for trousers. (an interesting way to refer to dhoti)
• They do not ask permission to enter a house, but when they leave it they ask permission to do so.

On geography

The names of countries change, and particularly in the yugas. So Mûltân was originally called Kâśyapapura, then Haṁsapura, then Bagapura, then Sâmbhapura, and then Mûlasthâna, i.e. the original place, for mûla means root, origin, and tâna means place.”

Overall, quite an indepth reading of the India of a 1,000 years ago. An interesting external perspective of the life and times of our ancestors.

Previously on BookMarks: Matilda 

BookMarks #141: Matilda

Title: Matilda 

Author: Roald Dahl

Genre: Fiction, Children's

Published: 1988

BookMarks

Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Never do anything by halves. Do something so crazy that it is unbelievable.

Basic Premise: Matilda is a precocious child neglected by her parents, who learns mathematics and reading all by herself. Such is the power of her brain that it can even perform telekinesis.

Overall, it is a tale with a little bit of magic, quite a lot of family drama, some fraud, while being a quiet commentary on parenting.

Roald Dahl also inserts his books recommendation in the story, comprising of:

• Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Gone to Earth by Mary Webb
• Kim by Rudyard Kipling
• The Invisible Man by HG Wells
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• The Sound and Fury by William Faulkner
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• The Good Companions by JB Priestley
• Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
• Animal Farm by George Orwell

Trivia: Probably first time I have come across a protagonist who happens to be an Olympics Hammer Thrower

Previously on BookMarks: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (also by Roald Dahl)

Don't Grow Up. Its a Trap

From Calvin & Hobbes published in today's Times of India Mumbai edition (13-July-2026)

Calvin: "How come grown-ups don't go out to play?"

Calvin's Father: "Grown-ups can only justify playing outside by calling it exercise, doing it when they'd rather not, and keeping records to quantify their performance"

As usual, another deeply profound dose of brilliance from little Calvin.

• Why do adults have to be productive?
• Why can't things be done simply for fun?

And why does everything need to be quantified? And converted to a metric?

• We don't walk, we count steps (10K target daily)
• We don't exercise, we count calories burnt
• We don't eat, we count the calories consumed (nowadays the protein intake)
• We don't post on social media, we count the reactions (likes, views, comments)
• We don't read, we count the number of books/pages read

Everything seems gamified and every metric continuously tracked (breathing, sleeping, steps etc.). The entire living sometimes becomes a performance review.

And as for the fun activities, seems FOMO plays more of role in deciding what to do than actual interest.

After all, as the old saying goes "Don't Grow Up. It's a Trap"

P.S. Additional research found that Calvin's parents are never named in the entire series

BookMarks #140: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Author: Roald Dahl

Genre: Fiction, Children's, Fantasy

Published: 1964

BookMarks

An all time children's classic by Roald Dahl, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is one of those books which had been on the "to read" list for a very long time, but somehow had never gotten around to reading it.

Basic premise: Willy Wonka, the famous and mysterious chocolate maker, invites five children, picked via golden tickets, for a never-seen-before tour around his mysterious factory. Charlie Bucket is one of the lucky ones. What follows is a series of misadventures within the premises.

Overall, quite a good moral lesson for children (and older readers) as well. Liked the fact that this is a story from which many more stories (or in Marvel parlance - a multiverse) can easily be built - sequels, backstory of Willy Wonka, origins of the Oompaloomlas etc.

A highly recommended read.

Previously on BookMarks: Tatalog

BookMarks #139: Tatalog

Title: Tatalog

Author: Harish Bhat

Genre: Non-Fiction, Business House, Narrative

Published: 2021

BookMarks

As the title says, Tatalog is a collection of 8 stories from the House of Tatas. Given the storied nature of the business house, the author has picked a few of the more recent examples, hence more relatable.

Most interesting part is the wordplay in the title, with the log meaning a record/journal (in English) or people (in Hindi); with both meanings equally apt.

The stories are from all over the business, building the first car (Indica), CSR initiatives (Tata Chemicals in Okhamandal), issues of integrity (Tata Financials), building a first supercomputer (Eka), major acquisitions (Tetley), big awards (Tata Steel winning the Deming Prize), Second Careers Program, builing a brand (Tanishq). Each story in its own way, deriving different aspects of the Tata Way, which the author has defined as the 4Ps - Pioneering, Purposive, Principled, Perfect.

A few nuggets from the narratives

• Tata Indica’s design basis - internal volume of an Ambassador, size of a Maruti Zen and pricing close to Maruti 800. To build it Nissan's factory in Australia was transported to Pune
• Shankar Sharma, the Tata Financials Whistleblower was never identified (at least publicly)
• “Say TATA not goodbye” – the tagline for the Second Careers Program.

A Key Definition from the book: Risk - an ability to be where no one has been before

One Grouse: The chapter on acquisition of Tetley, refers to all sort of historic events, and yet misses out on Boston Tea Party!

An interesting book but the stories are completely unconnected! Also makes me wonder why there aren’t more such publications about other prominent Indian business houses. Tatas seem to be a clear leader in this genre.

Previously on BookMarks: Ikigai 

BookMarks #138: Ikigai

Title: Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Author: Hector Garcia, Fransesc Miralles

Genre: Non-Fiction, Health, Well-being

Published: 2017

Language: English (translated from Spanish)

BookMarks

Ikigai is the Japanese concept of an individual’s meaning and purpose of life.

The book describes the four elements which help an individual determine their Ikigai – what you like, what you are good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for. The cross-section of these is your Ikigai.

The book focusses on the residents of Okinawa, and how their lifestyle has contributed to them becoming the longest living people in the world.

Key Messages

• Bring meaning and joy to every day
• Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.
• Take things slow and leave urgency behind
• Eat to 80% of your stomach’s capacity
• Surround yourself with good friends
• Keep moving
• Smile
• Reconnect with nature
• Show gratitude
• Live in the moment

Overall, a simple and excellent read – is brief, sharp, doesn’t wander around, has small and practical steps on improving well-being and also not too preachy.

Previously on BookMarks: A Brief History of Time 

BookMarks #137: A Brief History of Time

Title: A Brief History of Time

Author: Stephen Hawking

Genre: Non-Fiction, Science, Physics, Universe

Published: 1988

BookMarks

"We see the universe the way it is because we exist" : Anthropic principle

“A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, tries to answer the fundamental questions regarding the universe, like, how vast is it? what is it made of? Did it have a beginning? What was there at beginning? Can time move backwards? And will a single unified theory be able to describe everything about the universe?

Two questions, lying on the opposite sides of the spectrum, that have always intrigued humans – from earth to sun to galaxy to the universe - how vast is it and what lies beyond the limits? And what is the basic building block of all matter – from grains to molecules to atoms to electros/protons/neutrons to quarks, how much smaller does it get? 

Now this is one subject, where science needs imagination to formulate theories which have to match up to the observations. It has been almost four decades since the publication of the book, but some of the theories are still at conjecture stage.

Some of the interesting takes from the book.

On Earth - Earth is a medium-sized planet orbiting around an average star in the outer suburbs of an ordinary spiral galaxy which is itself only one of a million million galaxies in the observable universe.

On the Model of the Universe - Since the beginning of civilization, the model of the universe has constantly evolved from Ptolemy & Aristotle to Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton and Edwin Hubble. In this evolution of the understanding of universe, critical roles have been played by eclipse on moon, the North Star, the moons of Jupiter and as the story goes "an apple".

On the Beginning

• Need of a "First Cause" - Within the universe every event can be explained as being caused by previous events. This the existence of universe itself could only be explained if it had a beginning.
• Another theory states - Time is a property of the universe and did not exist before the beginning of universe.  General theory of relativity breaks down at the point of big bang. Also, events before the big bang have no consequences to the scientific model of the universe. Hence time had a beginning at the big bang.
• Many people do not like the idea of time having a beginning as it implies divine intervention. Meanwhile the Catholic Church accepted the Big Bang model and has officially pronounced it to be in accordance with the Bible.
• "What did God do before he created the universe? He was preparing hell for people who asked such questions" - St. Augustine

On Theory

• A theory has to satisfy two requirements - describe a large class of observations on the basis of a model and must make definite predictions about results of future observations
• Eventual goal of science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe. At present there are two partial theories - general Theory of relativity (for large objects) and quantum mechanics (for the nano ones). And these two are inconsistent with each other.

On Space and Time

• Fundamental postulate of the theory of relativity - the laws of science should be the same for all freely moving observers no matter what their speed.
• Speed of light was calculated by observing the Eclipses of Jupiter's moons
• Theory of relativity ended the concept of absolute time
• A metre defined as distance travelled by light in 0.0000000003335640952 second as measured by a caesium clock - also corresponding to the distance between two marks on a platinum bar in Paris.
• An event is something which happens at a particular point in space and at a particular time.
• In general relativity, bodies always follow straight lines in four dimensions but appear to move along curved paths in three dimensions. Objects move along geodesics (the shortest distance between two points on any surface)
• Space and time are dynamic quantities. When a body moves out a force acts, it affects the curvature of space and time and in turn the structure of space-time affects the way in which bodies move and forces act. Space and time affect and are affected by everything that happens.

On the Expanding Universe

• The farther a galaxy is, the faster it is moving away
• The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary.

On The Uncertainty Principle - Particles have a quantum state - a combination of position and velocity

As per Aristotle, Gravity - brings things down and Levity - lifts things up

On Black Holes - Black holes are one of the few cases where a theory was developed in great detail as a mathematical model before there was any evidence from observations that it was correct.

Overall, an interesting book which tries to summarize some of the toughest concepts for the ordinary reader. Also, one of those books which definitely need multiple re-reads for better understanding.

And the funniest take personally – We often hear, mathematics is the language of science, and here is a book in English on the universe with only a single equation, “E=mc2” mentioned in the introduction. Hawking says as per the publishers, every equation reduces the potential readers by half!

Previously on BookMarks: So You Want to Know About Economics