I have been fascinated by Chinese philosophy ever since I read Lin Yu Tang and Bertrand Russell in my early twenties. The Chinese were isolated from Europe and the rest of the world for many centuries and thus they had to and did come up with independent responses to the challenges of human life. Theirs […]
Monthly Archives: October 2022
Advice to all 20 Year Olds
Having survived and reached the age of almost 60 years (more by luck than by judgment and by the unfailing generosity of my family) I am in a good position to know what mistakes I made and what I would tell a 20 year old version of myself. The life lessons (not in any particular […]
I almost got my hand chopped off
In the 1990s, for various reasons, I wanted desperately to go and work in the Gulf countries. My career was not going too well in India and I was not enjoying my work. In addition, I had offended powerful people in Mumbai who wanted me out of the city. I had been diagnosed with a […]
What we can learn from Diogenes
Everybody knows who Diogenes was. There is a famous anecdote regarding him and Alexander the Great that is related in Plutarch’s Lives: … While Alexander stayed here many public ministers and philosophers came from all parts to visit him and congratulated him on his election, but contrary to his expectation, Diogenes of Sinope, who then […]