My neighborhood has a very predictable morning. Flowers bloom in March. It rains in July. It's hot in May and cold in December. Regardless, the municipality cleaning ladies roll their cleaning trolleys up the streets every day, parking it from time-to-time as they sweep up plastic and other garbage from the streets and fling it … Continue reading Mornings in my neighborhood

(A Dhruv Somayajula hyperventilation based on absolutely true events) I woke up to a harrowing experience, no less a battle than Cannae, Panipat and Plassey, though the numerical odds between the combatants were quite level. The following is my mission report: "0900 hrs - June 11, 2021 - The Battle of the Almirah This huge, … Continue reading Morning Madness

(SPOILERS AHEAD) I am a big fan of Disney's Pirates of the Carribean franchise, and the history of pirates and their depiction in general. Which is why I jumped at the chance to read this book and pen some thoughts to spread some love for the piracy trope. The novel Treasure Island by RL Stevenson … Continue reading Reviewing ‘Treasure Island’ by RL Stevenson

Indian history does not get talked about enough (the what-actually-happened-and-was-recorded part of it and NOT the flying spaceships, anti-gravity stones, and our prescient discovery of head transplants kind).  History school books generally emphasize a select few empires and dynasties, relegating the rest of our vast history to a footnote or a paragraph.  Like shining a … Continue reading The Importance of History

Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies- A Biography of Cancer is a deep dive into the history of cancer, its recorded occurrence and treatment. The book highlights the multitudes of ground-breaking innovations that have helped scientists understand and, to a lesser extent, treat the various kinds of cancers occurring among humans. The book follows … Continue reading The Emperor of All Maladies- a review

Rupert woke up on a Saturday, after a hard night of partying, and swore. "Motherfucker". "Never again." I wouldn't blame Rupert. He had a bitch of a hangover, his head throbbed with an unrelenting ferocity, and he had just had enough. "I'm thirty four. Why am I still having hangovers?" He did not intend for … Continue reading Why Rupert never bothered doing Yoga again

Back in December, we first started hearing whispers of a disease in China. A flu virus which had infected quite a few people. We had bigger fish to fry. Back in December, the disasterclass of the Assam National Register of Citizens had unfolded, with millions of Hindus having been declared as foreigners. Political commentators dubbed … Continue reading Corona-tion and Thoughts