Dear Ty Kundu: I hope this email finds you well. I for one have been passing my days just fine, though I will be the first to admit that I find the climate sometimes not agreeable with my health (the result of which is often a change in my disposition). In those unfortunate times, I … Continue reading How to reply to any request to do any work →

A research paper entitled “Emergence of a new antibiotic resistance mechanism in India, Pakistan, and the UK: a molecular, biological, and epidemiological study” published by Karthikeyan K Kumarasamy et al in Lancet Infectious Diseases has generated an enormous amount of controversy over the last 48 hours. The article has resulted in an staggering media uproar … Continue reading Does the “Indian superbug” bug you? →

Christopher Nolan’s Inception is an exceptionally ambitious film about the journey of thought-thieves who enter into the dreams of others. The film intertwines multiple story arcs into one viewing experience. The main character in the film, Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a thief adept in the art of extracting thoughts from the dream-state … Continue reading Dreams, the “subconscious”, and Inception →

(With apologies to Erich Segal) As you probably know, Joel Stein wrote a piece entitled "My Private India" for the July 5 issue of Time that created a lot of anger in the desi community. To put it mildly, Stein brusquely stated his beef with the fact that so many Indian immigrants had decided to … Continue reading Apologizing means never having to say you’re sorry →

The cable TV network Nickelodeon airs a popular animation series called Avatar: The Last Airbender. Last week, The Last Airbender, a cinematic version directed by Indian-American M. Night Shayamalan, hit theaters worldwide to nearly universal derision. Besides being critically panned for content, the film also ran into a storm because of the casting of white … Continue reading Why Bollywood movies are better than racist Hollywood movies like The Last Airbender →

Mulla Nasruddin*, the Sufi scholar, returned home from a trip he had taken with his wife to find that his house had been burgled. The thieves had taken every valuable object in the house. Nasruddin's wife was visibly displeased. "It is all your fault." she said to him. "You should have checked to make sure … Continue reading India’s national pastime →

If you are searching for sarcasm in the following sentences, you will be disappointed. What you will find is sincere appreciation for two landmark scientific studies. In an extreme example of social asymmetry, while privileged individuals can debate whether or not to drink purified bottled water, over one billion others on this planet do not … Continue reading The role of scientists in society: thoughts on cholera reduction using sari-cloth. →