Let’s withdraw And meet the time as it seeks us: Shakespeare; Cymbeline Monju in Patparganj, Delhi, Winter 1995 Achintya Barua, known as Monju – or Manju – by his vast gathering of friends and accomplices passed away on May 17, 2026. Among the gang of dreamers from our college days six decades ago, he was… Read More Monju: spirit of the trees
Ian Buruma on Berlin during World War II Bryn Stole n December 1944, amid the bombs and wartime wreckage of Berlin, acclaimed conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler led the Berlin Philharmonic in a performance of Brahms and Beethoven in a frigid variety theater—since Royal Air Force bombing raids had already wrecked most of the city’s grand concert… Read More Dancing on a Volcano
John Boersma Tyranny and Revolution: Rousseau to Heidegger By Waller R. Newell; 2022 Waller Newell: Interview: The Characteristics of Tyranny Today’s political discourse is rife with the prognosis that liberalism is in trouble, evidenced by the rise of anti-liberal and post-liberal thought, each of which maintains that a politics based on material self-interest is incapable… Read More Tyranny and Revolution: Rousseau to Heidegger
Nothing can stop Germany’s moral panic over antisemitism It would be hard to surpass the absurd spectacle of a Jewish philosopher being blocked from speaking at a German Holocaust memorial because he intended to say that the lessons of “never again” should be applied universally. And yet such perverse distortions of Germany’s ‘memory culture’ have… Read More Bad memories
Albert Camus has long been misunderstood, but a new translation of his complete notebooks offers a corrective By Matthew Lamb The Complete Notebooks by Albert Camus. Translated by Ryan Bloom Source: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1957/camus/biographical/ EACH NEW TRANSLATION of a work from a major author should spark a reevaluation of that author’s critical reception and public reputation. Since his death in 1960, a… Read More Fame! A Misunderstanding
A Tribute to India’s Military Children By Brig Advitya Madan (retd) Spice of Life: Military children bloom everywhere. They are hardy and upright. Their roots are strong. They are ready to fly in the breezes that take them to new adventures, new lands and new friends https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/a-salute-to-resilience-of-the-military-child-101650194056954.html ++++++++++++++++ Of Bagpipes, Horses and Golden Orioles (2008) Lt… Read More Like a Dandelion in the Wind
Carolina Landsmann Apropos talk about a plea bargain for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in exchange for his retirement from political life, which President Isaac Herzog is working on; apropos the Supreme Court’s attempts to buy time to postpone the “constitutional crisis” (that is, the “storming of the Bastille,” aka the court, by “the people,” which,… Read More Netanyahu Will Go, but the State Will Die With Him
NB: A thought provoking essay to which some caveats could be placed. To begin with, Hindutva is not synonymous with Hindu Nationalism, the latter being more widespread and accomodative than Hindutva. The fascination with violence that characterised early militant nationalist groups was something which held sway in Maharashtra and Punjab as well; and the tendency… Read More Bengal was the First Breeding Ground of Hindu Nationalism
International Workers’ Day The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today… Haymarket Martyrs memorial.. Forest Park Chicago… Mayday Greetings ‘How does one survive?’: Factory protests expose strain in India’s industrial system This Mayday nearly 1100 workers are ncarcerated or kept in illegal custody for demanding… Read More ‘How does one survive?’: Factory protests expose strain in India’s industrial system
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut The Spanish title of Labatut’s book is Un Verdor Terrible – roughly, A Terrible Greening NB: This is an astonishing piece of writing, at once simple and deeply thought-provoking. The style is reminiscent of Borges, and the philosophical citation that comes to mind is this one from… Read More A Terrible Greening
After the truth-shower 