Category: Politics & Culture
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Growing up in the early 2000s, the stories of astronauts Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla, and Sunita Williams (an American astronaut of Indian origin) were woven into my childhood textbooks. Later, as a teenager, I discovered Ravish Malhotra, another pioneer whose name deserved wider recognition but never received it. After these icons, there has been a long gap. An entire generation of children grew up without any Indian launching into space. The sense of scientific pride associated with human spaceflight faded over the years, even as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved remarkable success in uncrewed missions, placing satellites and… […] continue reading
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In 1991, New Zealand businessman Alan Gibbs acquired 400 hectares of land in one of the largest harbours in the world. Instead of turning the green pasture lands into a magnificent private property, Gibbs filled it with large-scale open-air sculptures from renowned artists. Most of the sculptures in the collection have been specially commissioned instead of being bought from a pre-existing piece of work or exhibition. Gibbs notes the satisfaction of dealing with the artists directly on their website: “they’re interesting because they’re winners, tough, ambitious.” Although a private collection, the property is open to the public on select days… […] continue reading
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There was a time when you’d only hear two types of commentators – retired players and journalists. The players would give insights that were vivid, insightful, and full of passion. On the other hand, the journalists have always been more descriptive, informative and witty. But now, when I tune in to watch the Indian Premier League, there are a few more types of commentators. Some commentators are actively playing – they understand the modern game and the players on-field better because they still play together. There are former coaches of teams who participated with these teams and understand team dynamics… […] continue reading
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When I first learned in school about democracy and how elections happen in India – it made me feel proud. The collective power of people to elect their local representatives who propose confidence in one person among themselves to lead the nation. But the more I discuss politics with people, the more I realise they have no interest in electing their local representative. Their interest lies in one person only – who the Prime Minister is. I don’t always suspect this to be the case. People around me are a very small sample size, but that’s enough for me to… […] continue reading
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One of the first new things I was introduced to as a design fresher in the industry was how our product managers prioritise projects based on the effort required and the possible impact. But over time and in the end – it all seemed to not matter. Some projects kept going through iterations and changes in requirements without seeing the day in the life of users. There was no launch – I wonder if anyone believed there would be a launch someday for how things were going. It was disheartening. When I first heard about Stripe many years ago, I… […] continue reading
