The Flip Side of Therapy
It’s fashionable to be in therapy these days. Unlike the previous generation, youngsters and adults alike have no qualms in reaching out for help and the stigma around mental health is also on the...
View ArticleHikikomori
I read Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’ over the weekend. His work, which examines the impact of Social Media on Gen Z, didn’t have too many ideas that I wasn’t already familiar with. The rise...
View ArticleSudhir Kakar (1938-2024)
During my maiden visit to Lucknow in 2013, I dropped into the legendary Ram Advani Booksellers. One of the books that I picked up from the visit was Sudhir Kakar’s memoir, ‘Book of Memories’ - a work...
View ArticleMental Model for Categorizing Intellectuals
An apocryphal story has it that Confucius once became separated from his students in a strange city. They were searching for him when a local informed them that he’d seen a man who appeared...
View ArticleOn Freud
Each time I hug and pamper my children, I subconsciously know that I’m contributing to the scaffolding of their mental architecture and shaping the landscape of their emotional world. And that dear...
View ArticleThe Codification of Culture
Like most migrants, I insist, with moderate success, that my daughters speak their mother tongue (Malayalam), diligently expose them to Malayalam cinema (highly successful), feed them Kerala’s cuisine...
View ArticleThe Three Languages of Politics
Arnold Kling’s ‘The Three Languages of Politics’ is a short, succinct and handy toolkit to categorize political communication. For Kling, the three dominant political groups – the Progressives (what we...
View ArticleFeminism in Domesticity
Norman Rush's 'Mating' was a complex, long read. A nameless female anthropologists razor sharp views on life, love and relationships set in the Kalahari during the Reagan era had some fantastic...
View ArticlePeak, End, and Exit: Daniel Kahneman’s Last Decision
I’ve read a ton of books on psychology over the past five years, and I’ve hardly come across a single work that doesn’t make a reference or has a quote from Daniel Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’....
View ArticleOn Tickling
Ever wondered why we never tickle adults? Tickling can be violent, humiliating, sexual and rarely playful. Its always an act that dwells in a liminal space. It mirrors the ambivalence of most of our...
View Article