Only Human
What is work - labour of love or love of labour?
We use the word “work” quite freely and frequently in our conversations. But it is probably worth asking and contemplating, what work is exactly? We need to work. We need to be seen as working. We need to sweat. We need the fruits and also the fulfil... Read more
Memories are in bytes and Mind Palaces are subscriptions
We can record our lives and our knowledge with ever finer fidelity, and we can replay them. We see digital content as our appendage — something that should be always available to us, without which we would feel crippled. But it is not without consequ... Read more
Memories, Mind Palaces and Music
When we try hard to remember, our memories seem to capture us from a distance, almost from a third person perspective. But music has a knack of stimulating memories, taking us back to the time and triggering the same emotions we felt. Music can also ... Read more
To Envy is Human
Few can deny feeling envious at some point or another. But envy make us fundamentally human. It is an extension of the animal impulse to protect one’s territory into a heightened sense of awareness of disparity in possessions, capabilities and status... Read more
How to not care about what other people think
It is an advice given often — to not care about what other people think. It cannot mean that you disregard other opinions completely. Not caring is to care, and then to let it rest. We have to agree to disagree, and accept with empathy that the beare... Read more
The Value of a PhD: Waste of Time or Way of Life
What is the role of a PhD in society and what of the lack of a significant salary premium over a lower degree? But being an academic is a way of life. An academic is one who is some where between a cynic and a romantic, as skeptical in her rigour to ... Read more
The Ambivalence of Loneliness
As an infant baby, it is inconceivable that we can be left alone. Yet we want solitude from strangers. We don’t want to be lonely, but we want to be left alone. This ambivalence continues all the way into adulthood. Continuous loneliness depletes us,... Read more
Want to be a better reader? Start writing!
By reading we implicitly bestow a measure of trust in the writer. Maybe our trust-meter is obsolete. Writing being mightier than a weapon is a notion that humankind has known right from when writing became a thing. And the Internet has amplified the ... Read more
Lessons from a Sabbatical
A sabbatical is work and it requires a workspace, an individual’s cocoon. A working schedule is a way to focus on work rather than daydream about how your sabbatical has gone so far. All work and no play can be quite dull and there’s nothing quite li... Read more
Why we walk
Walking is fundamental to humans. When we walk, the scenery and the soundscape change, and yet at a gentle enough pace that lets us take it all in. We walk to clear our head — to satisfy the need for a sense of motion, and also as a bonafide social a... Read more