Author Archives: secondsaturn

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About secondsaturn

Independent Scholar. Polymath.

Bande Bharat Express

Posted on December 11, 2025 by secondsaturn

I managed to ride on the Bande Bharat express after all. Once was a trip from Delhi to Jaipur and the second one was a to and fro between Howrah and Santiniketan. In the latter case, the train was attended … Continue reading →

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Does Indian Art Have A Theory?

Posted on November 24, 2025 by secondsaturn

A senior and well known academician asked me why was there no theory of Indian art while the theory of Western art is so well developed? To answer this perhaps we need to reframe our questions not so much around … Continue reading →

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Taslima Nasreen vs Javed Akhtar

Posted on October 2, 2025 by secondsaturn

Taslima Nasreen dropped the atom bomb on the politics of Bengal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan by observing that the Bengali culture is foundationally and fundamentally Hindu. There cannot be any category like a Bengal Muslim unless as an oxymoron. To … Continue reading →

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Tikli Bottom

Posted on September 13, 2025 by secondsaturn

My young cousin planned a visit for the family to Tikli Bottom. This is a property at the bottom of the Tikli hills, off Gurgaon, where the Aravallis rise for the one last time to eventually run off in undulations … Continue reading →

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Pause and Rhythm of Birju Maharaj

Posted on August 8, 2025 by secondsaturn

I watched Birju Maharaj as part of the Spic Macay programme in the Jhelum Lawns in JNU. Besides Dover Lane Music Conference, JNU was the other place where my education by exposure to excellence happened in Hindustani classical music and … Continue reading →

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India’s Ancient Wisdom

Posted on July 9, 2025 by secondsaturn

There are many enthusiastic young scholars and teachers who imagine that the Sanatan dharma of India is the core of its ancient wisdom and knowledge and hence India exerts or should exert a moral power as in the eponymous epithet … Continue reading →

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Enola Holmes The New Detective on The Block

Posted on June 22, 2025 by secondsaturn

Nancy Springer: The Uncorseted Feminist Nancy Springer, quite unknown to me, was born on the 5th of July 1948 and spent 76 years of her life living life and writing a great deal about it. She has authored 50 novels, … Continue reading →

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Rammohun Roy’s Legacy: Challenging Religious Extremism

Posted on May 24, 2025 by secondsaturn

Fight Theology for 22nd May 2025, 253rd Birth Anniversary of Raja Rammohun Roy Rabindranath Tagore wrote of Raja Rammohun Roy that if Bharat struggles to find itself, it will keep looking out for Rammohun. Truly, in everyday life of India … Continue reading →

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Jab Chhod Chale Lucknow Nagari

Posted on April 11, 2025 by secondsaturn

Gulabijaan is a fictional character, a stereotyped tawaif who came to Calcutta with the entourage of Wajid Ali Shah when he was exiled to the city by the East India Company in 1856, just a year before the Sepoy Mutiny. … Continue reading →

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Proletariat Struggle Through The LoudSpeaker

Posted on March 1, 2025 by secondsaturn

Municipality elections are this weekend in Faridabad. Electric three wheelers are rampaging the streets, with loudspeakers blaring slogans and songs composed around the candidates elevating them to statuses of Gods and Prophets. There are no election speeches, no meetings, no … Continue reading →

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