Category Archives: Uncategorized

The gift of your complete, undivided attention

I’m almost 30. And I think I’m finally learning how to talk to people I lost my grandmother a couple of years back. I still vividly remember that I got to know this through a message that my sister sent me. My head began spinning, and I had to sit down for some time toContinue reading “The gift of your complete, undivided attention”

Status battles in The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov is one of the most famous books in the history of literature. It was also Einstein’s favorite book. However, my appreciation for the book proves that (much) lesser mortals also have much to gain from reading it. The book swings primarily between the author’s third person narration of events, and the psychoanalysisContinue reading “Status battles in The Brothers Karamazov”

Lessons from trying to go vegan

Not everybody hates Osama bin Laden. Even Hitler has some fans, and Thanos many more. But everybody hates vegans. I decided to go vegan a few years back….and I told everybody. I had expected some backlash. But it became a funny free for all in which the only thing people knew about me was thatContinue reading “Lessons from trying to go vegan”

IMO 1981, Question 3

I had a great time solving the following question a couple of nights back. More so because I’d failed to solve this question in the past. This question is completely unapproachable if you try to use algebra. However, generating simple examples helps. Let me try and write down some solutions to : they are DoContinue reading “IMO 1981, Question 3”

The loss of nuance

Dictatorship is the death of nuance Someone’s WhatsApp status I’m currently going reading the book “Feeling Great” by Dr. David Burns, and in many way it is one of the most important books that I’ve read. Dr Burns is the founder of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is the pre-eminent technique used to process PTSD, pastContinue reading “The loss of nuance”

Neuroscience and Indian law enforcement

Let’s face it. Raj Kundra probably does own a mobile app that uploads pornographic videos. The app is called Hotshots, and some satisfied consumers of the app, perhaps out of a sense of duty to their fellow Indians, have uploaded content from the app to multiple porn sites on the internet. Hence, Kundra’s masterpieces areContinue reading “Neuroscience and Indian law enforcement”

Music and Class in India

I was in middle school when I started listening to American music (we called it English music) and watching American TV series (on Star World, for those in the know). Soon, I was listening to a lot of Backstreet Boys, and watching a lot of Friends, Dexter, etc. It was a strange feeling. Although IContinue reading “Music and Class in India”

Some notes on Elementary Differential Geometry

I will discuss these notes on Differential Geometry. Why study vector fields, differential forms etc on a manifold, when you can directly study the whole manifold itself? Well, what does studying the whole manifold mean? One might say “Just look at it! You’ll see the shape and other geometric features”. That is true. However, whatContinue reading “Some notes on Elementary Differential Geometry”

Status signaling in academia

This is how math grad students talk: I don’t really understand this very simple concept. What is the essence of this object, and why was it needed at all? I perhaps need to construct ten different examples or think of alternate definitions before I can successfully narrow down what this means. No. Not really. ThisContinue reading “Status signaling in academia”