Five days from today, a letter will go under an auctioneer’s hammer. No big deal about this except that this letter was written by one of the world’s most influential scientists to one of the world’s well-known philosophers. The content: views on god. The opening bid: $3 million, though it could fetch many times that amount. Read more

Not sure whether it’s serendipity or destiny, I’m inclined towards the latter. Over the past few months, I have been thinking actively about learning Sanskrit. The reason is just one: having read almost every volume written in English, finally I want to be able to read and enjoy the Mahabharata and the Vedas in their own language, perhaps even attempt a translation of my own. It is difficult for me to call it the language of the Gods, but there is something magical in the power of its words. Read more

Since September 15, 2008, when Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and the world teetered over the edge, the religion of money has been challenged by the poor reeling under the onslaught of corrupt decisions by vested interests, the intellectuals wondering whether capitalism as is being practiced in its corrupted form today is the right developmental model for nations, and the vested interests who are wondering how to weaken the light that threatens to expose the darkness surrounding centuries of inter-generational wealth creation. Read more

Take a look at this list:

* 2011: Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India by Joseph Lelyveld

* 2008: The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs

* 1989: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

* 1988: The Polyester Prince by Hamish McDonald

* 1984: Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim by Sunanda Datta-Ray Read more

Finally, it looks like excellent packaging to an ongoing scientific quest that began in 1905 with Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and its adjunct, 10 years later, in the form of the general theory of relativity. Read more

I got a small but interesting response to a previous post on corporate dharma. Six top executives in some of India’s top companies felt it resonate with what they are doing. Read more

The mountains are still within me as I walk out of the Old Delhi railway station into a chaos that needs to be experienced to be believed — even at 4.00 am, the crowds of people getting in and out of this decrepit hallmark of the past are thick with anxiety. Read more

And after all the heat and dust, it took a simple statement from the Supreme Court to end decades of turmoil and tension. Read more

With science and its adherents, rationality and its advocates, taking up greater space in all dimensions of life, from the natural to the social, it’s getting harder and harder to be a saint in India. Read more

When I’m asked for a bribe — and to be fair, this coercion came to me after many happy bribe-free years — my entire body revolts in disgust. Read more