Opinion: The Top 5 Words Of 2022 And What They Reveal About Us
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Tuesday December 20, 2022In this sense, whether we 'like' these five-fingered offerings or not, they handily indicate that even at our loneliest, we are never quite alone.
Opinion: A Forensic Examination Of Prashant Kishor's 'Agar Vote Hai'
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Monday April 12, 2021The recent brouhaha over the comments of the political advisor to the Trinamool Congress, Prashant Kishor, on who will win the election in Bengal offers us a classic case of how a tiny particle of language, if ignored, can lead to major missteps in i
Opinion: U.S. Shows Itself Up As "Nation Of Flaws"
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Monday January 11, 2021The United States, has long taken pride in describing itself as a 'nation of laws', in the words of its sixth President, John Quincy Adams. Yet, under its forty-fifth President, Donald J. Trump, it's more apparent than ever that it is also a 'nation of flaws.'
Opinion: Kamala Harris - The Power Of A Name
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Thursday August 13, 2020Every aspect of Kamala Harris's life as Joe Biden's historic Vice-Presidential pick will now be discussed threadbare in America and elsewhere. What will probably pass unnoticed, however, is something most Indians know by default. This is the meaning of the name 'Kamala'.
Opinion: My Encounters With Stephen Hawking In Delhi
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Thursday March 15, 2018As a scientist, he exemplifies for me the best of the humanities, of what it can mean to be someone who lived almost his whole adult life entirely dependent on other humans for physical help but whose mind was ever independent, questing and transcendent.
Opinion: When Words Like "Anti-National" Are Thrown Around
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Thursday March 02, 2017"Words matter", as a wiser and older George W. Bush has advised President Trump. Yes, they do here in India as much as in the US. Remember "Pappu" and "Feku"? Such labels stick. However, they are not half as problematic as invisible half-words and powerfully emotive discourse.
Opinion: 3 Reasons Why Modi's 'Raincoat' Metaphor Is Brilliantly Bruising
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Friday February 17, 2017Two seemingly lightweight utterances that prompt reflection on why "mere words" are so enduring.
Opinion: What The Suicides At IIT Tell Us About Where We're Going Wrong
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Tuesday July 19, 2016The youth of this country are, in effect, sending our planners and politicians a strong message. But is anyone listening?
Opinion: Britain's EU Vote Is Really An FU Vote
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Saturday June 25, 2016The UK's recent decision to leave the EU seems to have about it a similar air of confusion- with perhaps similarly daunting long-term consequences as well.
Opinion: Yes, Sanskrit At IITs May Be A Good Idea. But Conditions Must Apply.
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Monday May 02, 2016Given the recent perturbations round an ancient language, this may be as good a time as any to review the possible contribution that Sanskrit, as well as the many languages of modern India, can make to intellectual paradigm-shifts in an age of virtual reality.
Opinion: Analysis Of Rohith Vemula's Suicide Note
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Monday February 01, 2016Rohith sees himself condemned to live in a world of mean and heartless human distinctions, including but not confined to caste, where personhood is reduced "To a vote. To a number. To a thing."
Opinion: Bag Wapasi in Delhi
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Tuesday December 15, 2015There's no denying that awful ills beset our capital and our country at large but, equally, a limitless resource that we can bank on without hesitation has to be the collective conscience and individual good sense of India's ordinary citizens.
Opinion: IS and the Use of "Prostitution" Metaphor
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Saturday November 21, 2015Understanding the language and metaphors of terror could give us vital clues to its workings.
Opinion: Why Aren't Scientists Returning Awards?
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Tuesday October 20, 2015If the spate of Award-wapsi is a 'motivated protest' by persons who have been patronized by the Congress or the Left, that would be as true of the scientists. Why then have few, if any, scientists protested publicly?
Opinion: In Cold Blood - Why Sheena Bora Case Grips Us
Rukmini Bhaya Nair | Tuesday September 01, 2015Those closest to us (trusted parents, children, friends) can always hurt us the most and cases like the Mukerjea-Bora one show up this awful possibility. That is why they grip us.