Essays

The story of discovery of Buddha and Ashoka

David Petraeus and the turnaround of Iraq war

The creation story of Jumbo Jet 747

Eck’s magnificent tour of Darsan

Troubled legacy of Supreme Court

Early history of republic told thru six vignettes

I loved the way he looks at myths

A walktrhu of Pacific Northwest

Excellent primer of leadership through a history and mini biographies of vignettes of Gnerals!

A fascinating world history thru the lens of cotton

Almost a playbook for dictators!

Thurgood Marshall’s bravery as a lawyer

Lives of ordinary Germans during Nazi rule

Excellent nuances in different facets of privacy

An exploration of facets of common knowledge

Candice Millard tells the story of Theodore Roosevelt's near-fatal Amazon expedition at age 55, exploring a man whose restless spirit refused to accept an ordinary life.

Robert Macfarlane explores ancient footpaths and maritime routes, showing how walking connects us to place, memory, and the layers of meaning that roads carry through time.

A moving tribute to 40/35 Firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

Ron Chernow's epic biography reveals how John D. Rockefeller reshaped American business and philanthropy—concentrating economic power while pioneering modern scientific philanthropy.

David Gilmour renders a social history of the Raj through vivid portraits of the men and women who lived in India—administrators, adventurers, philologists, and saints—not as an imperial chronicle but as human experience.

A comprehensive look at Bell Labs' pivotal role in shaping modern technology and innovation.

The story of Notre-Dame cathedral through the centuries - from its construction to the devastating 2019 fire and the heroic efforts to save it.

A Sanskrit verse illustrating how even the creator cannot strip the swan of its innate ability to separate milk from water.

A practical guide to 35 essential Telugu phrases with English translations for everyday conversation.

A Sanskrit verse proclaiming that refined speech is the only true ornament that endures while all material adornments fade.

A Sanskrit verse defining the qualities of exemplary men who know how to behave appropriately with different people in different situations.

A traditional Telugu lullaby celebrating Sita as daughter of Earth, daughter of Janaka, daughter-in-law of Dasharatha, and wife of Shaantha Kumar.

A satirical poem listing the technological and social advancements brought by British rule, from trains to telegraph to education.

A powerful metaphor comparing British-ruled India to a vast prison where moving between cells changes nothing.

A cautionary verse about how those who hurt the good and kind bring trouble upon themselves without reason.

A satirical Telugu poem praising Queen Victoria above legendary Indian monarchs like Rama and Yudhishtira.

A humorous verse questioning the purpose of a grand mustache if it cannot command respect or call for aid.

A humorous verse about a miser who sends his young daughter-in-law to give alms, only to attract unwanted attention.

A satirical take on what makes a crowd-pleasing speaker - a mix of truth, scandal, and forbidden topics.

Abstract Telugu poetry exploring the contrast between warrior prowess and the subtle art of understanding a woman's heart.

A fascinating look at how language isn't a set of rules but rather an improvisational game of charades we all play together. Morten Christiansen and Nick Chater challenge everything you thought you knew about how we communicate.

Ross King's masterful account of how Filippo Brunelleschi built the impossible—a massive dome over Florence's cathedral without wooden scaffolding, revolutionizing architecture and engineering in the process.

Tom Standage explores the origin and evolution of the telegraph, revealing uncanny parallels between Victorian communications and today's internet.

John Dickerson explores the modern presidency through history, leadership, and the unique challenges of the office, putting recent years in sharp perspective.

A bold declaration by the great logician Udayanāchārya at Puri Jagannath around 1000 AD, asserting his indispensability.

A cryptic verse about Ravana, Mareecha, and deception, possibly from a Telugu epic or play.

A poignant verse expressing Yudhishthira's reluctance to fight for a kingdom built on the blood of his own kin.

A dramatic portrayal from the Mahabharata of Krishna leaping from his chariot to charge at Bhishma, breaking his vow to remain neutral.

A cryptic Telugu verse about the nature of true poetry, written in complex classical Telugu.

A magnificent verse celebrating the Telugu literary tradition and its great poets, with both literal and metaphorical meanings.

An insightful exploration of how colonial powers influenced global cuisine.

A compelling story by Satyam Sankaramanchi about Subbai, a snack hawker who rises from poverty to wealth through cunning and loan sharking.

The legendary final verse from Nannaya's Mahabharata, painting autumn nights with glittering stars, blooming lotuses, and moonlight like powdered camphor.

A vivid narrative by Satyam Sankaramanchi depicting a devastating flash flood in Amaravati and the community's response to disaster.

A powerful short story by Satyam Sankaramanchi about Baachigadu and Singi, rat-eaters trapped in cycles of exploitation along the Krishna River.

A playful verse reminding Krishna that asking for alms as Vamana was his own ancient teaching, not a new practice.

A poetic description of Lord Rama's divine beauty and noble bearing, seeking his blessings.

A devotional verse to Anantha, the serpent who bears the weight of the world and Lord Narayana on his thousand hoods.

A beautiful verse describing Krishna's enchanting appearance - his dark skin, lotus eyes, peacock feather crown, and captivating smile.

A simple yet profound prayer for a dignified life and peaceful death, seeking divine grace.

An exquisite description of Lord Rama's divine beauty that even Brahma cannot adequately capture in words.

A devotional song questioning why one should drown in sorrow when born to serve humanity, urging worship of Lord Venkateswara.

A devotee challenges Krishna, calling his legendary rescues mere myths unless he saves them too.

Stephen Greenblatt's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of how a 15th century book hunter's discovery of Lucretius's 'On the Nature of Things' helped ignite the Renaissance and reshape Western thought.

A delightful exploration of rivers combining history, geography, environmentalism, and urban planning, revealing how 66% of the world population lives within 20 km of a major river.

From the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna reveals himself as Time, the destroyer of worlds, declaring the inevitable end of all warriors.

From Valmiki's Ramayana, a verse describing Rama's noble virtues, comparing his depth to the ocean and courage to the Himalayas.

From the Ramayana, a detailed description of Hanuman's eloquent speech that even his enemies could not resist.

A Vedic prayer seeking blessings to perceive only goodness and live a life of service to the divine.

A Sanskrit verse celebrating what truly adorns different beings - speed for horses, grace for elephants, wit for women, and work for men.

A Sanskrit verse warning against excess, citing the downfall of legendary heroes due to overindulgence in giving, greed, and desire.

A Sanskrit verse celebrating the finest in every category, from flowers to poets, translated from Telugu.

A devotional Sanskrit verse where every action, thought, and moment becomes worship of Lord Shiva.

David McCullough's inspiring account of how two self-taught brothers from Dayton, Ohio changed what humans could do. No credentials, no funding, no audience—just grit, curiosity, and patient experimentation.

Jerome Groopman's essential guide to medical thinking reveals how doctors make decisions, where they go wrong, and how patients can help them think better. A field guide to navigating healthcare.

Rory Carroll delivers gripping investigative journalism about the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing assassination attempt on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

James C. Scott constructs a thought-provoking exploration of the interregnum between early agriculture and the establishment of centralized states.

A beautiful dialogue from Pothana Bhagavatam where Lord Vamana requests three steps of land from King Bali, teaching contentment and wisdom.

A timeless verse from Pothana Bhagavatam on the futility of wealth without contentment.

A profound verse from Pothana Bhagavatam expressing the desire to be dust beneath the feet of Krishna's devotees.

A heart-wrenching expression of doubt from Pothana Bhagavatam, questioning God's presence in times of need.

A desperate plea from Pothana Bhagavatam, seeking divine intervention when strength, courage, and life itself are fading.

From Pothana Bhagavatam, a vivid portrayal of Lord Vishnu's boundless compassion as he rushes to save the elephant Gajendra.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist delivers an extremely readable history of the Supreme Court's milestones and inner workings with remarkable clarity.

David Quammen explores Darwin's 16-year procrastination in publishing Origin of Species, revealing his experiments, personal struggles, and the events that finally forced his hand.

Vemana's wisdom on how a teacher's harsh words are like a washerman beating cloth - painful today, but cleansing for tomorrow.

Elting E. Morison's must-read exploration of generational transformation and the development of technological change.

Vemana's sharp critique of how fools in power cast aside the wise and prefer mediocrity.

Vemana's powerful reminder that after death, only your dharma accompanies you - everything else is left behind.

Vemana warns that mere external practices like robes and shaved heads won't bring liberation without inner transformation.

Vemana's witty observation on how we all have flaws yet are quick to judge others.

Vemana contrasts the silent grace of the Ganges with the loud roar of murky drains, illustrating wisdom versus foolishness.

Vemana's satirical verse on how even divine beings are not immune to covetousness.

David McCullough's epic account of one of history's greatest engineering feats. From French failure to American triumph, the story of cutting a continent in half and connecting two oceans.

An English journalist's journey across India following the monsoon from Kerala to Cherrapunji. A meditation on why India's unpredictable rains shaped a culture infinitely patient with uncertainty.

Timothy Winegard reveals how the mosquito—a creature with no evolutionary purpose beyond self-perpetuation—has influenced more human deaths and historical outcomes than any other animal, from Alexander's campaigns to the American Civil War.

James Vincent explores how measurement shaped civilization, from Egyptian Nilometers to the metric system. Why do we use base-12 for time and base-10 for distance? The answers reveal how humans invented order from chaos.

A fascinating exploration of how Chinese script evolved through centuries of technological challenges—from dictionaries and printing to typewriters and computers. A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of linguistics and technology.

Salman Rushdie meditates on the knife attack he faced, bringing his usual wit and sharp observations to questions of recovery, courage, and free speech.

A love letter to 40 of Kamal Haasan's best movies, combining interviews from collaborators with fascinating insights into props, make-up, and creative techniques.

David Owen traces the complex geography of the Colorado River and its intricate water rights system, revealing one of the most thoroughly managed rivers in the world.

Arnold Kling provides a quick primer on understanding progressive, conservative, and libertarian political frameworks, encouraging slow thinking across multiple axes.

Ramachandra Guha's magnificent 1100-page biography captures both the saint revered across generations and the complex human being Gandhi truly was.

Ruth Goodman tells the fascinating story of how England switched from wood to coal and transformed domestic work, kitchens, and women's lives.

Peter L. Bernstein explores the history of risk management from ancient Greeks to modern probability theory and insurance.

Kingsuk Nag chronicles the political journey of India's poet-statesman from RSS activist to Prime Minister, navigating coalition politics and party ideology.

Martin Doyle explores how America's 250,000 rivers and streams shaped the nation, and how America transformed them through canals, dams, and infrastructure.

Lynne Olson chronicles the palace intrigue behind one of history's most consequential no-confidence votes that ousted Chamberlain and brought Churchill to power.

David O'Stewart explores James Madison's collaborations with Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, and Dolley, revealing how America's Constitution came to be.

Mark Kurlansky explores how a single fish species shaped exploration, trade politics, and the path to American independence.

Niall Ferguson explores the history of banking, bonds, stocks, mortgages, and insurance, revealing that money is ultimately a matter of belief and trust.

A fascinating exploration of the pre-Socratic philosopher who first figured out that Earth is a sphere floating freely in space, influencing everyone from Ptolemy to Einstein.

An NPR reporter's trans-Siberian train journey from Moscow to Vladivostok, exploring Russian democracy and cultural norms through encounters with passengers.

Pankaj Mishra explores how Asian intellectuals like Jamal al-Afghani, Liang Qichao, and Tagore responded to Western colonialism and shaped modern Asian nations.

Jon Meacham delivers one of the finest Lincoln biographies, focusing tightly on Lincoln's evolving views toward slavery and his struggle to do the right thing.

Swami Harshananda explains Hindu temple architecture, from the philosophy behind temple design to the intricate rituals of construction and worship.

Max Bennett traces five breakthrough moments in evolution from simple steering to language that transformed worms into a species building spaceships and writing poetry.

Six good detective stories featuring the truth-seeker Byomkesh Bakshi, though the English translation doesn't quite capture the suave finish of the Doordarshan series.

Chinmay Tumbe surveys migration patterns across India with fascinating anecdotes, from money order innovations to the Tebbit cricket test of patriotism.

Josephine Quinn flips the script on Western civilization, revealing how Greek, Roman, and European cultures were shaped by global interactions from Phoenicia to India.

Martin Puchner shows how culture survives through constant change and remix, from Egyptian monotheism to Charlemagne's font revolution.

Helen Thomson explores nine fascinating case studies of maverick brains to illuminate how normal brains function.

Sebastian Edwards chronicles how Chile became the testing ground for Chicago School free-market economics, from miracle to mass protests.

Ezra Vogel's magisterial 750-page biography reveals how Deng Xiaoping transformed China into a global power through pragmatic reforms and economic experimentation.

Timothy Egan's chilling account of how D.C. Stephenson and the KKK rose to terrifying power in Indiana until Madge Oberholtzer's tragic courage brought justice.

A sweeping history showing how wood—not stone, metal, or fire—has been humanity's true partner in civilization, from primate evolution to timber skyscrapers.

An early 20th century Telugu poet elevated the humble pakoda to divine status in these delightful verses. Chilakamarthi Lakshmi Narasimham's playful poetry celebrates the crispy, crunchy snack with mythological grandeur.

Jonathan Rauch explores how American democracy depends on religion as a moral force, not a voting bloc—and how both the religious right and secular left have lost their way.

William Dalrymple traces how India's ideas, aesthetics, and sciences traveled across the world—from Rome to China to Southeast Asia to Europe—through trade, faith, and scholarship.

John McPhee's portrait of a sparsely populated New Jersey landscape reveals how overlooked places hold surprising significance—including one of America's largest aquifers.

Anirudhya Mitra's fast-paced account of the manhunt following PM Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, showing the mix of politics, luck, and persistence behind a shocking crime.

Tripurdaman Singh chronicles India's First Amendment—a constitutional rewrite that curtailed free speech, property rights, and set the stage for reservations, reshaping the republic within sixteen months.

Alan Alda offers a compact guide to the art and science of human connection, showing how better communication can be the difference between life and death.

David Bessis argues that mathematics is an act of seeing, not memorizing—and that intuition, not formulas, is the true creative work mathematicians do.

Hu Anyan's memoir captures the precarious life of a gig worker in modern China—the invisible pressures, small humiliations, and surprising universality of labor in the digital age.

A JavaScript implementation of the beautiful typographic style Douglas Hofstadter uses in 'Le Ton beau de Marot', where the first five letters of each chapter progressively decrease in size.

A comprehensive list of 100+ notable Telugu movies spanning from the 1940s to 2020s, chronicling the evolution of Telugu cinema through its greatest films, legendary actors, and memorable moments.

Exploring useful function decorators in JavaScript including unary, once, throttle, and debounce patterns that enhance function behavior without modifying the original code.

A playful clock that displays the current time as mathematical equations you need to solve - because why make telling time easy when you can make it fun?

Exploring how Telugus historically used the decimal system for integers but a base 4 system for fractions, with interactive examples of converting decimal numbers to Telugu base 4 notation.

A JavaScript implementation of the toy language from Chapter 2 of 'Understanding Computation', demonstrating expression evaluation through AST execution and language semantics.

A humorous name generator that creates random spiritual guru names by combining famous swami, yogi, and spiritual leader names - because everyone deserves their own enlightened alter ego.

A comprehensive tutorial on RSpec and test-driven development, covering Guard, Spork, Growl integration, factories, Devise authentication, CanCan authorization, and common testing patterns for Rails applications.

An analysis of speedometer design evolution in Chevrolet vehicles, exploring why most speedometers use multiples of 10 instead of 5, and the trade-offs between ideal behavior and actual driver habits.

A weekend journey from Chennai to the former French colony of Pondicherry along the scenic East Coast Road, exploring French architecture, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, pristine beaches, and the experimental township of Auroville.