I sat in a cafe on Rue Suffren, paying ₹450 for a cappuccino that tasted like disappointment with foam. The menu was in French, and around me, Indian tourists were busy photographing yellow buildings like they had discovered Versailles. This was during a recent forced transit through Pondicherry or as
ततः क्षीयते प्रकाशावरणम् Thence is destroyed the veil of the light Pranayama is not merely a physical act. When done correctly, the ultimate goal is to remove the obstacles that hinder an aspirant's pursuit of true knowledge. According to the Yogasutras, the light
In 1857, roughly 45,000 British personnel controlled 300 million Indians. That's 0.015% of the population holding absolute dominion over the rest through systematic oppression that killed more than 100 million people. The majority died while the minority profited. We've been taught to think about
There's an old Urdu saying: "Apni gali mein toh kutte bhi sher hote hain" (In one's own street, even dogs become lions). This proverb captures something important about human nature—courage and conviction are easiest when they're directed outward, away from uncomfortable
Three generations. That's the architecture of cultural warfare. The first generation fights. They die holding the line, bodies stacked against the doors of temples, manuscripts clutched in burning hands. The second generation preserves. They hide, they record, and whisper stories to their children in the dark in a
You think you're being noble when you choose restraint. When someone mocks your gods, you bite your tongue and respond with measured dialogue, careful not to offend, eager to prove you're civilized. You think this makes you better than others. It doesn't. It makes
Falling at the behest of intentional prevarication, it necessitates us to rethink Hindutva’s strategic and moral posture. Have you ever wondered - why do most ‘liberal’ leaning people around the globe openly denounce religious fanaticism and ethno-religious groups, yet always protect the interests of Abrahamics? The answer is simple
There are two schools of thoughts prevalent in India today. That borrowing from other cultures is either treason or enlightenment. Either modern Indian society must hermetically seal itself against Western influence or prostrate itself before modernity's altar. But can't we take something foreign and make it
Editor's Note: The following piece is presented in the author's own words to honor a young Indian's sincere expression of cultural concerns. These views represent the author's personal perspective. We value providing space for heartfelt community voices on matters of spiritual and
There is a quiet rot eating at the edges of everything Hindu in India. Temples are stripped bare by state apparatchiks while mosques swell tax-free. Kashmiri Pandits rot in refugee camps while their exodus is called "communal tension" instead of ethnic cleansing. But Hindu society still nods along
There was a time, admittedly naïve, when I believed the university classroom to be a sanctified space: a repository of intellectual equanimity, a site where the “guru” remained an embodiment of integrity and pedagogical fairness. Coming from a modest background, I had always imagined Delhi University to be the luminous
The sneakiest trick the British ever pulled was convincing Indians that their weakness was virtue and that their inability to fight back was spiritual sophistication. Nowadays it's hotly debated whether Gandhi gave India independence or not but what we can be sure of is that he gave the