We live with the ethos in India that values discipline. At least in Mumbai. And maybe particularly so amongst the predominantly Maharashtrian community in the city. For the life of me I cannot understand what is meant by discipline and why it is important. Does it mean that people should respect the law? It is […]
Author Archives: nikhilmg
What to do when you are Depressed
The whole day today – Sunday, 7 March 2021 – I was feeling a little depressed and low. I had a list of things to do even on Sunday and I could not bring myself to do them. In the ordinary course I would beat up on myself for feeling depressed. And feel even more […]
Why Right to Dissent is Important
As I write this one of the breaking news on NDTV is that Bollywood celebrities including Anurag Kashyap and Taapsee Pannu are facing Income tax raids. The only thing common amongst these names is that they had been vocal regarding political issues. Also just this Sunday there was an article in the Indian Express by […]
About Keeping the Mind Pure
I do work on quora.com regularly answering questions and letting people have the benefit of my knowledge (such as it is). While surfing the website I came across an excellent answer to the question: What’s something your spiritual teacher said you always remember? One lady called Parameswari Kumar gave an excellent answer that I would […]
Practicing the Bhagavad Gita
I would like to write about my spiritual journey – such as it is – that I am engaged in right now. I have decided to shift from Buddhist to Hindu spiritual practices. The reasons for my doing so are as under: The first reason is that I was finding the Buddhist methods difficult because […]
About the Farmer’s Protest in India
A cousin of mine asked my opinion on the farmers’ protest in India that is going on right now. She also sent me a link to a YouTube video which I went through just recently. But of the top of my head, I can make the following points. To start here is the link to […]
About Free Speech and the Right to Offend
This is a comment on the two articles on free speech and the right to offend in the Times of India on 19 February 2021. Link to the two articles is below: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/complete-transcript-of-face-off-on-the-right-to-offend/articleshow/81095345.cms?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TOIMobile I am reminded of two cultural concepts – one Japanese and one American – which can help understand the opposing points of […]
About the Longer Telegram
One of my uncles recently told me to read up the Longer Telegram and do a blog article on the subject. As to what is the Long Telegram, it was an 8000 word telegram sent (in 1946) by a US diplomat posted in the USSR and it gave the intellectual framework that formed the US […]
My Reading Habits
I am 56 years old as of Sunday and have only the fact that I like reading books to point to as being an achievement of mine. So I thought that I should write about why and how I read. Perhaps it will be of use to some youngster who is making his (or her) […]
The Arabian Nights and Romantic Movies
I am reading The Arabian Nights after having bought the book more than 10 years ago. And it is a completely different point of view to the modern view of equality of the sexes and in particular, the stories that we see in romantic movies – both Bollywood and Hollywood. I will not address the […]