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The Search for the Face of Jesus Christ
What did Jesus look like? Are there authentic descriptions of his face and form in history? This is an account based on historical and verified sources.
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The Maid Who Stole Idlis
This is a memory of a woman and a tribute to all the women whose struggles go undocumented in history.
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Why Do We Wage War? Will It End?
An unnecessary waste of human life, and an enormous cost to human societies, yet wars occur again and again. Why do we wage wars? Will it end someday?
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Paraman: The Street Violinist
There are so many people in the lives of every one of us, who parted ways with us at some point, and became either strong or faint memories in our hearts. Paraman, the street violinist, is such a person from my childhood.
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Were the Hamas Terrorists Who Attacked Israel Using the Drug, Captagon?
Some unconfirmed news reports are coming out suggesting that the Hamas terrorists, who attacked Israeli civilians were under the influence of an illegal and strong drug, Captagon. This drug is known to be used by ISIS terrorists and has already created a serious drug problem in the Middle East.
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Kamakhya Temple, Assam: A Temple of the Supreme Goddess and Abode of Tantric Worship
The Hindu religion is a confluence of thousands of deities, forms of worship, and diverse streams of spirituality. Among them, the Kamakhya temple in Assam stands out as one of the most revered and intriguing places, where one gets to see Tantric rituals of Goddess worship.
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Katalin Kariko: Winner of Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023: A Woman Scientist Who Will Inspire Generations to Come
The Hungarian-American biochemist, Katalin Kariko, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023, will continue to inspire generations of women with her life-saving discovery as well as her relentless pursuit for what she believed despite heavy odds.
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The Path That Ju/’hoansi Bushmen Follow to Connect With God
This article is about how the most ancient, the first, people of the world, the Bushmen also called the San people, understand and engage with God. Many anthropologists have reported how the Bushmen are capable of experiencing a state of divine bliss through certain distinctive methods.
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Chandni Chowk: The Moonlit Indian Bazaar Where History Lives
Markets are the most vibrant and lively locations in any civilisation. Traditional Indian markets are a confluence of ways of life that are equally ancient and modern. Chandni Chowk is the epitome of Indian markets.
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How to Make Agriculture Climate Friendly? The Joe Biden Experiment
The US government has initiated a mega plan to make farmers the flag bearers in the battle against climate change. This plan also follows the new awareness that soil is what we need to work on to resolve global warming.
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Friedrich Nietzsche’s Ideas About Good and Evil
What is good and what is bad? Before Nietzsche, no one seriously thought it necessary to question premises underlying our thoughts on morality.
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Mindfulness-Based Eating Can Change Your Life
This article is not about what to eat but it is all about how to eat. It tells you about the healthy art of mindfulness based eating.
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Hurricanes: History, Facts, and Survival Tips
Hurricanes and Typhoon are the other names of very strong tropical cyclones. All of us are familiar with the weather picture of a hurricane or a typhoon where the map shows a whirl of clouds with an eye at the centre over the ocean. This article tells the story of this ravaging yet mysterious wind
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How to Keep Your Cows Happy and Avoid Stress-Related Health Problems
Here is a comprehensive guide to keep your cows happy and relaxed and why it has to be so.
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A Garden or a Forest Can Relieve Pain and Help Healing
New research suggests that a simple walk in nature and looking at the greenery around you can provide physical pain relief. For mental healing also, nature can play an important role, according to science.
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How Climate Change Impacts the Himalayas
The Himalayas are undergoing great changes under global warming, turning fast into a crumbling geological edifice and an ecological nightmare.
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The Unbelievable World of Interspecies Friendships
The food chain that ties us all together on this planet makes us both prey and predator yet some friendships emerge crossing these lines. There are many instances of such friendships recorded in history and happening around us all the time, questioning the mechanical predator-prey equations.
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The Himalayas: The Fascination of the Peaks
The Himalayas are the mountain ranges that separate the Tibetan plateau and the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the most iconic mountains on the planet and its peaks continue to inspire and challenge humanity.
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The Grand Old Oak Tree
Oak trees grow quite big, strong and magnificently old, probably why they always find their way to our fairy tales, literature, and mythology. One of the most important trees of Earth, Oak has been the national tree of many countries- England, USA, France, Germany, Denmark, Cyprus and so on.
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Some Interesting Thoughts and Facts about Tea
Tea is a beverage that has become an essential part of our lives. Here are some quite fascinating facts and thoughts about this everyday drink that brings us good cheer and energy.
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Why and How Much is Donald Trump Still Popular?
Why and how much is Donald Trump still popular? What does science, analysts, and surveys tell?
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Plants that Heal Wounds
There are many locally known plants that have wound healing properties. In different geographical regions, different plants are used for wound healing.
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Aral: The Sea That Died and Haunts Us
The Aral Sea was not exactly a sea- it was the fourth-largest freshwater lake on Earth. The Sea has dried up now reminding the world about the perishability of even mammoth things in life.
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Borders, Border Conflicts, and a Borderless World
All geography that we know of is human geography and all borders are human-made. Yet, borders kill people, limit human mobility, and separate one group of people from others in many fatalistic ways.
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The Life of Tibetan Mastiff Dog
Tibetan Mastiff is a dog that looks unbelievably beautiful and elegant, all the same, stirring thoughts deep inside us of something ancient and primal. This article helps you understand the dog better and think twice before you buy it.
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The Story of Ageing: Chapter 2: We Write, As We Age
This is the second part of the series of articles about ageing. Documentation is an urge that gets hold of people as they age. People start to tell stories of their past or write them down.
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Film Theory: Sculpting in Time: Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a filmmaker who gave the world a different idea of time and space. His brilliance lies in giving the audience a rare peek into the real experience of existence that is made up of the past, present, reality, and dreams. .
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Climate Change Raises Grave Concerns about Bird Migration
Bird migration is as old as birds themselves, some of the universal constants of nature happening year by year, just like seasons changing, monsoon arriving, or the cherries blossoming. Climate change has rendered this natural phenomenon messed up chaotically.
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Backyard Composting by Grinding Waste
If you are living in a city or an apartment complex, with very little space to spare, composting your kitchen waste is a huge problem. Here is an easy and unique way you can do that.
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Learn the Buzzwords of Climate Change
Changing realities of a period change our language too. Here is a look at how climate change is bringing new words into our common vocabulary.
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Ukraine War: The Plight of Older People of Ukraine
Ukraine war has left all the vulnerable groups in the country, including the older people, in dire circumstances of death and displacement. How the older people fare in the Ukraine war is an inquiry that the world has to make.
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How Farmers Can Cope With Global Warming
Farmers can help themselves and the world cope with global warming and climate change by making informed decisions on what to cultivate, when, and how. As the world searches for climate solutions, adopting climate-compatible farming is a pressing need.
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God Visions in Different Religions
In mythology and religious discourses, there exist many occasions when God appears before the prophets and even talks to them. Is there any commonality in these reported experiences of God?
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The Story of Ageing: Chapter 1
Ageing has something delightful about it, a process that effaces one’s undue self-importance yet anchors one in reality, in the very happening middle of the world where things become clearer and connections stabilised.
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This Mysterious Red Berry of the Tropics
This is a wild berry that we ate as children in Kerala, India. I am unable to identify this plant species though I searched across websites and books. I would love somebody to come up with its name.
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Long Pepper: The Spice that We Forgot
Long pepper is the closest cousin spice of pepper and is similar in taste yet hotter than it. Though forgotten as a spice, this lesser-known flowering vine is an important ingredient in the medical treatment methods, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha, three very advanced medical streams in India.
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The World of Natural Fragrance: Methods to Prepare Scented Oils and Perfumes
Perfumes are infused with memories and the poetry of life and they have been a part of fine living for a time unknown. The word, perfume has a Latin origin, the part, per, meaning through, and fume, smoke. This article is about the age-old natural methods used to extract essential oils.
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Memories of My Grandfather: A Sketch from an Indian Childhood
My grandfather died when I was three and a half years old. I have only a few memories of him but they are clear and intricate visual images. Remembering one’s childhood and the people who lived there (because childhood is an entirely different planet) often takes us to the crossroads of history, cul
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Is a Recession Coming?: Lessons for the Common Man
In 2009, the world experienced a severe recession. Economies are not completely recovered yet here we are, facing another global recession. What are the lessons that the common man can learn from the previous recession? Here is a review and suggestions.
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The History of the Marathon Run
Only a few of us know that Marathon is an Ancient Greek town. Even fewer people know the reason why a Marathon race is named so. Here is the story.
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The War Dogs: History of Dogs in War and Conflict
We all know that dogs are the best for companionship and security but we have forgotten that there were some violent ways in which we used dogs in history- in empire building and wars.
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Wild Edible Leaves of the Tropics
Many wild tropical edible leafy vegetables are rich in nutrition and easy to forage. Here is a compilation of them.
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Sapien Stories: Bedouins of the Middle East
The Bedouins are a nomadic tribe of Arabia and Africa that became one of the richest communities on earth when oil was discovered in the Middle East.
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The Trade Winds and Westerlies that Defined the World Order
The winds on our planet played a crucial role in making us what we are now. If you doubt this statement, or if you want to know more, read this article.
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Edelweiss: Hitler, Anti-Nazi Resistance & "The Sound of Music"
The edelweiss has captivated audiences worldwide since "The Sound of Music," but it is also the national flower of many Alpine countries, a symbol of purity, and has a history with Hitler and Nazism.
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How The Alps Defines Cultural Europe
The Alps have drawn writers and travellers to it since people began to travel and write. Some writers called English romanticism “the literature of the mountains and the Alps”. There is a huge melange of Alpine cultural traditions in Europe that never stops fascinating.
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History of Paper and Our Civilisation
It is quite surprising how paper rules our lives. Since it was first made in China in AD 105, the paper has earned a sacred place in the human mind and our civilisation.
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David Livingston: The First European to Set Foot in Central Africa
A legendary explorer of Africa, the man who discovered the majestic Victoria waterfalls, a Scottish missionary who took Christianity to the African tribes, and an adventurer who set out to find the origin of the river Nile, David Livingston lived many lives in one lifetime.
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Potato: The Food that Changed World History
Potato is the world’s number one food product that is not a grain. In 2021, the world produced 53.69 million metric tons of potatoes. This is a food that changed the world literally.
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In Praise of The Indian Pariah Dog
Indian Pye dog often called the Pariah dog is a breed indigenous to Asia, comprising the free-ranging dogs that roam in the streets and public spaces of South Asia.
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Pangolins and Covid 19: Some Emerging Facts
Rarely sighted, feared as a mythical creature, and eaten as a rare gastronomic treat, the only thing the Pangolins have for their protection from us is the full-armoured body and the ability to exist as a rolling stone. Covid 19 has brought this oblivious animal into the limelight.
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Stephen Crohn, the HIV Resistant Who Helped Develop a Miracle Drug
In any scenario where an infectious disease infects many, there happen to be a few humans who are resilient to the disease. Stephen Crohn was one such individual whose resilience to HIV helped the scientists develop the revolutionary anti-retroviral drug.
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Pagoda and Hill Glory: Tropical Cousins of Vervain
The orange tower or the Pagoda plant and the Hill Glory are two attractive flowering plants that belong to the same family as Vervain. Both these plants and their pagoda-shaped terminal inflorescences are also viewed as having magical properties in Asian cultures.
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Queen Elizabeth II: The Monarch Who Ruled 70 Years
Queen Elizabeth II has stayed on the throne for 70 years and is celebrating the platinum jubilee of her rule. She is 96 years old and the longest-reigning monarch the world has ever seen.
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Lotus Silk: The Expensive Spiritual Silk of Asia
Silk, as soft as a flower petal; if stories are to be believed, many princesses and kings dreamt of it. How many of us know that silk can be made from lotus flowers and that it belongs to a small yet thriving industry?
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How to Befriend a Stray Dog?
Stray dogs are so obviously in need of some love as we often encounter the docile ones showering us with frantic tail-wagging gratitude at the first instance when we touch them or feed them.
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55 Recommendations for a Good Life
When I decided to write down these recommendations, it was for me as it is for others. I wanted to consolidate the idea of a good life that I have had scattered inside my mind for a long time. I also thought this would help at least a few.
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Don’t Be A Climate Doomer
Climate Doomism is the belief that the earth and humans have lost the climate battle and the future is all doom and gloom. Climate Doomers believe that there is nothing to be done now to reverse climate change and save the life on earth.
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The Story of Sunday
How did the pagan Mithraic Sunday get adopted by Christianity and become Christian Sunday?
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Foraging: A Guide and Some Cool Facts
Foraging can be defined as wandering mindfully and looking for edible fungi and flora because you have decided to be closer to nature, explore it, and find back the nostalgic tastes that disappeared from your plates as humanity progressed.
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Domestication of Cats
Nine thousand years of association and still not viewed as a trusted friend? Yes, this is about cats who have never replaced dogs as the best friends of humans. Why?
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Vervain: The Plant, History, and Facts
Verbena Officinalis aka Vervain is a plant that owns a mysterious place in history. Many different and disconnected ancient cultures across the globe somehow attributed the same spiritual and medical significance to it.
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Goats: All You Need to Know
Goats are often hailed as the poor man’s cow. They are smaller than cows, easier to handle, easier to tame, and less expensive to feed and they reproduce more frequently, assuring the farmer a steady income from selling the progenies, meat and milk.
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Pythia: The Oracle of Delphi
Pythia was the oracle of Delphi, much revered even by those as great as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The oracle of Delphi was a sisterhood of women who commanded awe and respect from an otherwise misogynistic society.
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Hypnagogia: A Window to Creative Dreaming
While reading a book, or watching a movie, everyone would have experienced a moment when one slips into a state of semi-sleep. This is the state of half wakefulness when one just starts having dreams- blurry images and illogical thought bits floating in one’s head.
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To Eat Or Not To Eat, When We Are Sick?
There is this old saying, ‘feed a cold, starve a fever.’ Is it really good advice?
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Sea Urchins: A Palatal Gift From The Ocean That One Should Not Miss
Uni Sushi is a treat to the taste buds and rare and expensive addition to the platter. Uni stands for the gonad of the sea urchin, eaten raw and tasting creamy, buttery and cheesy.
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The Arctic Life: Traditional and Modern
Human habitats in extreme climate zones are a mystery to the rest of the world. How people, animals and plants live in these brutal terrains, remains unknown to the outside world. This article is a peek into how mundane life is in the Arctic region.
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Truffles: The Rare Delicacy Hidden by Earth
Truffles are the fruiting body of an underground fungus, some varieties of it edible and highly palatable. They have tempted human curiosity and taste buds since the hunter-gatherer times.
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Is Permanent Happiness Possible? How?
What percentage of the population on this planet will be thinking, “this is not the life I want to live?” Is it possible to know the secret of happiness?
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Wormholes, Blackholes, and Singularity
Wormholes are imaginary yet theoretically possible shortcuts in space and time. A black hole is what makes a wormhole theoretically possible. Science has proven black holes exist. How far humanity is from wormholes and time travel?
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All About Sweet Juliet Rose, the World's Most Expensive Flower
David Austin's Sweet Juliet rose is the most expensive flower in the world, wowing audiences back in 2006 when it debuted. Here is some information about the flower and how to cultivate it.
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All About Trees
Trees make our lives pleasant and liveable. In the face of the deteriorating environment on this planet, the only home we have, it is time to look at the role of trees once again.
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A History of Ukraine
The Ukraine war has brought forth a forgotten history into the limelight. A history that can only be told completely by the generations of people of Ukraine. A history that is fraught with memories of invasions and power games across centuries.
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Frogs and Toads: Facts and Info
Frogs and toads were the first vertebrates to leave the aquatic habitat and set foot on land. Learn more about these amazing and adaptable species.
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Sapien Stories: The Norwegian Raindeer Herders
The Norwegian reindeer herders have an amazing way of life almost incomprehensible to the modern world. The charming reindeers and their shepherds, the Sami tribe, are comrades in arms in their engagement with an unforgiving Arctic climate.
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Electronic Waste and Environmental Racism
From environmental racism to sea piracy, the e-waste dumping in developing countries, especially African countries, raises many questions before the developed world. It also presents a misbegotten picture of the world's claims of humanity. and taking responsibility.
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Sapien Stories: Sherpas of the Himalayas
How did Sherpas, a mountain-dwelling community of the Himalayas, become the best guides in mountaineering? What is so special about these people that make them such experts?
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Pandemic is Brewing More Violence
Unfazed by the grim realities of life catechized by the pandemic, the world is rushing to more violence. Why does this happen? In a moment when humanity more than ever needs to lean upon unity, why do conflict and apathy rule?
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The Era of Lifesaver Plastic
Who ever imagined plastic will deserve this commendation that I am about to write! In this grim era of the pandemic, the lives of our front line workers are saved by this material that symbolizes the ultimate inorganic.
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Monuments and Cities Destroyed by War
A war, any war, not just kills people and lets a country conquer another but often erases the entire architectural landscape of a place. Many glorious architectural and cultural monuments of the world have been smashed to the ground by wars.
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Barbet Rescue: Hand-rearing a Fallen Chick
I am jotting down how I rescued a Barbet chick here, hoping that this would be helpful to someone who gets into a similar situation. The bird was so small that at first, I was afraid even to hold it in my hands.
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The Riveting Story of Amazon: Explorations and Their Adverse Impact on Nature and Native Populations
Amazon is the name of the largest rainforest in the world and the second-longest river upon the earth. The social, economic, and environmental history of this region rivals fairy tales. It is also a history of injustice and exploitation.
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Uighurs & Tibetans: Cultural Genocide and a Long History of Persecution
Uighurs and Tibetans are two people united in discrimination and bondage. Their struggle to preserve their cultural identities wage on.
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The Fascinating Story of the Silk Road
The silk road was an ancient road that connected China with Europe, Africa, and Asia. This road network was used by traders for about 400 centuries.
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Rice: The Staple Diet of Half the World
From being the novel food of the Yangtze Valley civilization and a summer crop in the Harappan civilization to the staple diet of half the world, rice has traversed a long and eventful path in history. This article will take a look at the crop eaten more frequently around the world than any other.
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How Stem Cell Meat is Going to Transform Our Eating
Stem cell meat is the new buzzword in vegan circles. Animal lovers are also enraptured by the idea of it. For those who love to have meat on their menu, and still do not want to harm animals, stem cell meat is a guilt-free alternative.
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Jack Fruit: Food for Thought to Make the World Hunger Free
Jack fruit is one of the fruits with the potential to reduce hunger in the world. It is a highly nutritious fruit ignored for a long time because of certain minor prejudices and a lack of information.
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Up to Three Billion People Will Live in a Hotter World by 2070
Analysis of a study that provides a better and actionable insight into how climate change is going to affect us.
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Is Climate Change Natural or Human Made? The Three Baseline Studies That Answered This Question
Climate change has become a grim reality for us as we are haunted by an overall increase in global temperatures and many natural catastrophes. We are also facing more frequent and fatal virus attacks because of climate change, say scientists. Did humans cause this? Can we control it?
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The Western Ghats: The Rain God of India and a Mega Biodiversity Hotspot
The Western Ghats is a mountain range that separates the southern stretch of India from the rest of the country. It is situated between the Deccan plateau and the coastline of the Indian peninsula. It is older than the Himalayas and houses more than 300 of the threatened species on the planet.
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Why Do Some Plants Have Coloured Leaves?
Ever wondered why some plant leaves have colors more exotic than flowers? How do the red, blue, and brown leaves of some plants prepare food as they seem to be devoid of chlorophyll?
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Pandemic and Life: How to Change and Survive
The philosophy of life is changing in this dark and depressing time of the pandemic. Your mind is going to be your greatest tool for survival.
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The Disappearing Footpaths
Footpaths are a childhood nostalgia for many. Modern life has almost banished those nice and cosy walkways that meander through meadows, hillocks and hamlets. In many European countries, there are attempts to reclaim them.
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The Story of a Life
I was working as a television journalist when I met this strange man. Vijaya Kumar. Most probably he was in his late 50-s. He was the ex-owner of a tile factory in the suburbs of Calicut, a coastal town in North Kerala. He was also drawing a monthly salary same as a worker of the factory.
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Who Wrote Dictionaries?
Writing a dictionary can seem to be a humanly impossible task if one looks at the size, volume and information that goes into one. Not to mention, the meticulous structuring and detailing. However, there were individuals who dedicated, single-minded and almost single-handed, their lives to this task
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How and Why Plants Migrate
Plant migration is a significant part of human history. The migration of potatoes helped Europe fight a famine. Rubber trees became the livelihood source of millions by migrating from the Amazon rainforest. Plant migration is a vast study area gaining importance in the context of climate change.
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Some Mysteries of the Plant World Answered
We often forget that plants are living beings. They have a unique sense of their surroundings and lot of intuition. Here are some plant facts that will leave you aware of our closeness and commonness to them.
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Ecosystem Services and Economic Values
Ecosystem services is a concept in ecology that helps us understand how ecologically important each specific ecosystem is. It re-imagines a familiar landscape like a neighboring pond from an ecological perspective for us, lists the services it provides and translates its value into monetary terms.
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My Organic Farming Practices Part 3
Fertilizer application and upkeep of nutrient balance in the soil are areas where an organic farmer would find many problems and doubts. This part of this series on organic farming is about how to keep your soil and the crop well-manured.
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The Tropical Rainforest
Rainforests are one of the oldest and most complex ecosystems on this planet. The weather mechanisms and ecosystem services that are linked with the rainforests are invaluable to the habitability of our precious abode, the earth. This is a biography and tribute to the tropical rainforest.
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My Organic Farming Practices Part 2
This is the second part of the series on organic farming. It is the simple things I have not only learned but internalized as I went on experimenting with organic cultivation.
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Farmer Suicides in India
Farmer suicide is an issue India has faced in the last three decades. To be more precise, this social phenomenon started in the 1990s and is continuing. This article tells why.
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My Organic Farming Practices Part 1
Farming is a vocation that charms everyone though not many really venture into it. Here I begin a series that gives some tips to the new farmers.
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The Street Dogs of Kerala and My Dog Story
It was two years back that I rediscovered my love for dogs. In my childhood, they were around us, owned by us and by the community. They walked around, befriended all of us and were fed by all. Now they are part of a scary propaganda of misinformation and cruelty in our state, Kerala (India).
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What is Time? Concept of Time in Different Civilisations
Do all of us perceive time in the same manner? What is the time concept in different civilizations-in the past and the present? Do all experience time in the same linear way?
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The Ant Lion and the Art of Living Extraordinarily
Ant lion is one of the most fascinating insects on earth. If you have explored around a bit in your childhood and let yourself a peep into the worlds of other animals and plants, you surely would have spotted the ant lion larvae and their perfectly-shaped pits.
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Read an interview with Felix Padel, renowned anthropologist and the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin.
This interview was done in 2015, when I visited Felix Padel, famous anthropologist and great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin, in Odisha.
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Living With Nature
Today’s world nearly coerces one to live a major part of life in incessant communication with others. In others words, to go incommunicado feels like a crime. How much solitude is important to rejuvenate the mind and the brain?
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The Secret World of Wild Mushrooms
Soon after the monsoon arrives, the homesteads and farmlands in and around the Western Ghats are fraught with wild mushrooms. A visual journey through the mushroom biodiversity of this region will make one wonder if an artist handcrafted with care, all this variety, and colors.
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Will Climate Change Alter What the World Eats?
In the next 30 years, how many in the world will be able to have their morning cup of coffee as compared to now? How many will have access to non-vegetarian food against those who have today? Climate change is going to banish certain food items from our platter. Some new items will enter it too.
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Do Not Fear Death; Let Us Try to Understand It
Death is a reality we fear our whole life. The more we think about it, the stranger the complexities and meaning of life seem to us. Unlike we might think, in history, different eras of civilisation had different notions about death and a few of them are as beautiful as life itself.