Ephemeral Reflections

 I have decided not to start a new book unless I have finished writing a comprehensive review of the last one. Reasons? I hardly can form a cohesive piece of writing which does not sound like the rambling of my mind. I need to practise writing on a focussed topic and it is high time I get on it. Oh, And my blog needs to be resuscitated too. So, let us get started. However, this post might be longer than the review itself. After having been to (only) some of the famous (and some others not so) temples in India, I have always wondered why temple food tastes soo different, delectable? Of course, the one reason is slow cooking imparts its own flavours which are hard to get in home kitchens. But are there any other factors? And the variety you encounter is a reflection of the vast culinary diversity of India. For example, Vaishno Devi Prashad includes dried apples and walnuts. The sweet and sour pumpkin curry served in Chattarpur mandir langar is one of my favourites. While I will never...

The most imperative thing here is the reason why I started reading this book. Because this defines the context in which I saw its content. It has been some years since I started wondering what the cause of violence by religious people is. Violence is part of human nature. But if we blame certain religious beliefs incite violence then why, why Buddhist majority countries like Vietnam and Sri Lanka persecuted their minorities. If religion does grant you peace then why another majorly Buddhist country, japan, turned out to be one the worst offenders of war crimes in world war II. Do their beliefs not create an inherent conflict? Where nationalism triumphs religion? And where religion directs nationalism. Most of the Tibetan protests have been non-violent. But at the same time, can you ignore the firebrand Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka? I wanted to know how such deeply religious people could live a life that is in complete contrast to the ​​original teachings of their dharma. Although this b...

 There is one thing on which I can absolutely count on to provide fodder for this blog. And that is talking about the books which made me recommend them to whoever is ready to listen.  But this, is more about the author.  I was introduced to history of science as by Sam Kean (rest of them then followed). And for that, I indebted to him. Let’s just say ‘The Disappearing Spoon’ and ‘The Violinist’s Thumb’ are two of the most enjoyable books I have read which do not belong to fiction category. Science. And pure joy.  In my Masters’ classes in JNU, many professors used to tell interesting stories about the interactions of scientists which led to the discovery (topic of the class). As much I enjoyed them, I used to think of them as superhuman story collectors. Blame that on my ignorance and on the small cache of book genres I read till then. And then I stumbled upon Sam Kean. He was the first science historian I came across (and then there was no looking back). Th...