What work could I undertake during these years, that would fulfill my life, that would enable me to pay back the debt owed to my motherland, and to serve my fellow men ever so little...
Dharma
Someone checks their phone and sees a friend's vacation photos. Nothing dramatic—just standard social media fare. Beach, sunset, cocktail with a tiny umbrella. But instead of scrolling past, they stop. They start calculating. How much did that trip cost? How did they get the time off? Why
Editorial
Your cousin gets into Harvard. The whole family shares the Facebook post. Your aunt calls everyone she knows. Banners are put up. And you feel it too - that swell of pride, that sense of "we made it." But here's what you don't realize
You've probably seen it. A Western pundit on Twitter, hand-wringing about "the dangerous rise of nationalism" after seeing footage of Indian students celebrating their country's space mission. An op-ed warning about "authoritarian nationalism" in Vietnam for not adopting Western-style democracy fast enough.
Editorial
There you were, scrolling through your feed, feeling good about sharing that inspiring story of Fatima Sheikh—India's pioneering Muslim woman teacher, a forgotten hero finally getting her due. You hit "share" with that warm glow of righteousness, didn't you? Because this is exactly
Theology
Why do subcontinental Muslims remain so restless, so perpetually aggrieved, even after getting exactly what they demanded? Pakistan was supposed to solve the Muslim problem. Two-nation theory, partition, separate homeland—problem solved, right? Except the problem didn't go away. If anything, it got worse. The Muslims of the
Dharma
Ancient India figured out separation of church and state three thousand years before America did. Most people think the varna system was just about "caste" hierarchy. Wrong angle entirely. Varna doesn't mean caste. The varna system was in truth, the world's first institutional framework
Decolonize
India gained independence in 1947, but Hindu temples didn't. You know how sometimes people inherit the bad habits of those who they consider their superiors without realizing it? India did that with British colonial policy, except the bad habit was seizing control of Hindu temples and the inheritance
Thought
Here's what I've been thinking about lately: we're witnessing the quiet extinction of self-determination, and most people don't even realize they're participants in their own effacement. It starts innocuously enough. You're scrolling through your feed when an algorithm
Editorial
Last week, I watched my friend Ragini—lovely person, theater professional, animal lover—post seventeen stories about a crisis she'd literally never mentioned before. Not once. In years of casual conversations, this particular injustice had never crossed her lips. But seventeen Instagram stories in four hours? She was
Itihas
Civilizations don't heal by accident. Take Germany after 1945. They didn't stumble into becoming a beacon of modern democratic values. They didn't accidentally develop one of the world's strongest advocates of human rights. They certainly didn't get there by building
Dharma
Someone asked me why their meditation teacher keeps saying "we are all one" when we're obviously different people with different problems and different bank accounts. Well, both statements are true. And understanding why might be the most practical spiritual insight you'll ever come across.
Theology
The most vocal defenders of Indian secularism aren't secular at all. Walk into any debate about religious freedom in India and watch what happens. The Christian missionary, fresh from converting tribal communities, pounds the table about secular values. The Muslim mullah, who just finished explaining why apostasy deserves