Why fiction still matters

Every now and then, we are bound to ask ourselves the same question: why are we still reading novels? The dictionary defines a novel as a relatively long work of narrative fiction. But a definition tells us what a novel is. It does not tell us what a novel does. Understanding can only begin when…

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India’s big policy leap puts GCCs in the fast lane

When policy evolves from being an enabling backdrop to an active catalyst in a sector’s journey, the resulting momentum can provide quantum growth opportunities. Driven by a clear triple-engine policy thrust: the India-EU Free Trade Agreement and the US-India Interim Trade Framework, and the Union Budget, India’s GCC story seems to have entered an elevated…

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Quad, where art thou?

As Trump begins his highly anticipated summit with Xi today, there’s one aspect of the US-China strategic calculus that comes into sharp focus. The US-India-Japan-Australia quadrilateral dialogue or Quad is, metaphorically speaking, dead in the water. It’s still afloat, but just barely. India is still waiting to host the leaders-level summit due in 2025. Read…

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Borrowed Shoes, Barefoot Heart 

I keep walking in shoes that don’t really feel like mine,   I try to run; they restrict and hurt while I pretend everything is fine.  I’ve run in them trying to chase restless dreams of my own,   But they always seem out of reach like a distance that has grown.  I stumble, chasing after expectations-…

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Pricing our way out

Well into the third month of the Iran war, earlier assumptions of a short-lived conflict, have now been negated. Over the past week, even as physical shortages of oil seem to have eased, oil’s price for March 2027 delivery has risen nearly 10% to $83/barrel. It is now prudent to start measuring the impact on…

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Sell some acres

If ministers have decided to travel in smaller convoys, and bureaucrats are conducting business without logging air miles, we can’t complain. For, frugality is always a virtue – not just in a crisis. As George Eliot said of a wealthy family: “They never suffered a pinch of salt to be wasted.” The belief that “money…

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Two milestones of a journey

By Aacharya Pragyasagar Human life is a remarkable journey, one that begins with arrival and continues through many transitions. We celebrate birth with joy, yet the mere mention of death fills us with fear, grief, and uncertainty. This contrast arises not from truth, but from our limited understanding. If life is an art, then death…

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