Storyteller, Quizzer, Marcom Pro.
Storyteller, Quizzer, Marcom Pro.
Step into Cave 1 of Ajanta in Maharashtra, and you will find one of India’s most celebrated paintings: the serene figure of a Bodhisattva holding a lotus. Commonly known as Padmapani, meaning “lotus-bearer” or “one who holds the lotus,” the…
Walk through the older parts of Hyderabad, and you may hear the flutter of wings before you notice the pigeons. They gather around mosques, dargahs, parks, bridges and old neighborhoods, sometimes in astonishing numbers. Dedicated kabutar khanas, or pigeon houses,…
September 16 marks the birth anniversary of M.S. Subbulakshmi (1916), one of India’s most celebrated Carnatic vocalists. Her music carried Carnatic tradition to audiences across India and the world, while her distinctive stage presence became equally memorable. The sari, flowers,…
There was a time when Ganesh Chaturthi carried a bigger purpose that went well beyond the rituals of the day. In the late 19th century, India was under oppressive British rule. Political meetings were watched, public gatherings faced restrictions and…
Few Carnatic compositions capture the spirit of Lord Ganesha as beautifully as “Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham.” Its opening phrases are familiar to generations of music lovers. Yet behind this popular kriti is a fascinating story that brings together music, mythology, history…
Indigo is a dye obtained traditionally from plants of the Indigofera genus. It has been used for thousands of years to color textiles. While we often associate indigo with deep blue color and, of course, with blue jeans, there was…
When something goes wrong, our minds often search for complicated reasons when a simple one is right in front of us. This idea is known as Occam’s Razor. It says that when there are several possible explanations for something, and…
Bobbili in Andhra Pradesh has a fascinating connection to the town’s royal origins and the tiger, and its evolution reflects centuries of local history. Bobbili traces its origins to the 17th century, when Pedda Rayudu, a descendant of the Venkatagiri…
More than 220 years before ChatGPT, a machine was already doing something that feels surprisingly familiar: following instructions encoded by humans and turning them into something new. In 1801, French inventor Joseph-Marie Jacquard demonstrated a loom controlled by a series…