As a Sikh kid growing up in California, it’s safe to say that a large part of my time has been spent playing a juggling act between my Indian and American sides. I assimilated just enough to fit in with my American friends, while still holding on to my
There are two Indians whose statues stand in foreign capitals. Whose biographies fill Western shelves. These two men receive the world's admiration. One despised his own villages, wore Savile Row, and believed civilization flowed in one direction; from London to India. The other preached that the oppressed should
There is a question that sits quietly at the edge of Indian “intellectual” discourse, rarely asked aloud in polite academic circles but increasingly impossible to ignore: how does a political tradition that champions atheism, gender equality, LGBTQIA+ rights, and the dismantling of religious authority find itself in sustained, structural alliance
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 led to several controversies, protests and violent eruptions. The leaders of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) claimed, “The Muslim community views this Waqf Amendment Bill as a direct attack on the community. It is evident that the BJP’s politics thrive on communal
The aim of the sinless One consists in acting without causing sorrow to others, although he could attain great power by ignoring their feelings. The aim of the sinless One lies in not doing evil unto those who have done evil unto him. If a man causes suffering even to
Pakistan was not the result of a territorial dispute. Its founders didn't argue about where to draw a line on a map. They argued about whether two communities could share a future, concluded they could not, and built a country on that conclusion. Pakistan was designed, from its
"All religions are essentially the same." You've heard it. Maybe you've even said it. Sounds enlightened but it's not. It's merely intellectual surrender dressed up as wisdom. Composite culture means that you don't defend anything because defending requires
It happened in Greece. It happened in Rome. Now it's happening in India. Two generations. That's all it takes. Delete the gods, delete the operating system. Hindu gods ran everything. Not in some vague spiritual sense. They were the actual infrastructure. You couldn't start
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