The term work-life balance has become a trending topic in India these days. Out of curiosity, I visited Google Trends to see how popular is the term in recent times. Turned out, it is really popular, especially after January 2024. Here is the Google trend result: What accounts for this sudden surge? With countries that are developing fast with an aspiration of becoming developed fast, this has been pretty normal, as evident from history. Japan, after world war 2 aspired to become a robust…
It is time to share some of my best reads in the 2nd half of 2024. I shared a list for the 1st half here. Over the years, I observed a dilemma among people I know about which form of books should they be reading. Just 20 years back, books meant a physical form of printed books. But today, e-books have become another form of books that are in some aspect more convenient. What form of books should we be reading then? In a…
I am fond of the English word “Meticulous,” which means showing great attention to detail. Not that I am meticulous in everything I do, but my experience and observation have led me to conclude that the smaller details often make a big difference in life. This may seem intuitive, but most of us overlook the smaller, often insignificant-looking details in our busy days. There is a fascinating story of Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician. He was working at the Vienna General Hospital in Austria…
Just eight years ago, I had never even heard of the term “peer review.” I often wondered how scientific knowledge found its way into classroom textbooks. Who decides what to include and whether it’s accurate? During my PhD, I first experienced peer review and how it works. It made sense then to me. scientific peers are the ones who evaluate the validity of findings and determine whether they should be published. Here’s a typical overview of how the scientific peer review process works: But…
India, or Bharat, is one of the youngest countries on this planet, with an average age of 29. Currently, over 650 million Indians are under the age of 25, and 845 million are under 35. With such a large workforce, one would expect India to be the immediate next superpower. There is, of course, a lot of hope about India around the world right now. As an Indian, it feels so exhilarating to witness a time when most of the world looks toward India…
Among all the mystical words, luck is probably the most ancient and popular one. In our daily lives, we use it commonly as ‘good luck‘, ‘may you be the lucky one‘, etc. But even the best scientists would have difficulty describing or quantifying luck. While some people believe luck is just a statistical phenomenon, others are convinced that luck plays a big role in life. But which is closer to the truth? Probably no one has the absolute answer. The subject of luck is…
For many of us born before the digital age, magazines hold a special place in our hearts. They’re not just publications; they’re time capsules of nostalgia. Not that I don’t see magazines nowadays, but it is a reality now that magazine readers are declining fast. So fast that within 10-15 years, we may see the closure of most magazines in print format. You might be thinking, “What about e-magazines?” Sure, they exist, but can they convey the same feeling as print magazines? It’s like…
We currently live in one of the most entertaining times in the history of humankind. Never before have humans had the resources and tools to get entertained as they are today. Learning and entertainment have both been part of our lives since the beginning. Learning is essential to progress and thrive as a society, whereas, entertainment provides an opportunity to give yourself a break and slow down. The fact is that both were seen as different aspects until the last 10-15 years. Even when…
Ambition- I often find it as one of the most puzzling words in English. The one piece of advice I frequently received from all my well-wishers is ‘You must be ambitious in life‘. I think having ambition is a good thing. It fuels our drive and creates a strong desire to achieve our goals, which is a crucial step toward any significant accomplishment. If cooking is your goal then having a knife with you acts like ambition. The knife itself cannot cook you anything…
Most people don’t realize the true driver of progress. If you ask 10 random people how civilizations progress or improve, chances are most will not mention innovation in their answers. If you take a moment to reflect, you’ll realize that civilizations advance through new innovations. Imagine if James Watt had never invented the steam engine, Gutenberg had never created the printing press, Charles Babbage had not conceptualized the computer, or Vint Cerf had never thought of the internet. Each of these innovations has been…
