What is in a name? Plenty!

“What is in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare’s famous quote is a cliché – a tired, stale phrase or idiom that, because of overuse, has lost its impact. Names matter. A name identifies us. It does so much more: it is our public face. Over the last … Read the essay

What is in a name?

“What is in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare’s famous quote is a cliché – a tired, stale phrase or idiom that, because of overuse, has lost its impact. Names matter. A name identifies us. It does so much more: it is our public face. Over the last … Read the essay

Politics of Science in a Pandemic

In 2020, Covid virus— a black swan— wreaked havoc across the globe, killing more than 1.5 million people, infecting many more and causing economic devastation. And although research developments progressed very fast in 2020, the pandemic set the course of science afire. The coronavirus spread. And as fast did the scientists, researchers and public health activists move.  No … Read the essay

Aruna bhabhi and Om

Aruna Born to Shri Kisangopalji and Vasanti devi Ruthia on April 11, 1954 in Nagpur, Aruna was the middle sibling— Chandrashekhar (1948-2017) and Anand (1956-2010) were her brothers. She used to live in Kirana Oli, Itwari, then a relatively sparsely populated area. She went to the Nityanand Kanya Vidyalaya, near Balaji Mandir on Dharaskar Road. … Read the essay

Badibai and Jijaji

I call her Badibai—the elder mother! Ever since I was born, she treated me with so much love that she richly deserves this name. Badibai was born in Barsi, a town in Solapur district in Western Maharashtra, on 26 February 1942. As was the custom those days, she was delivered at her nani’s home. The … Read the essay