“The personal is political.”

With apologies to Sartre and Camus, what is life for? — by B Maria Kumar

“All these clues suggest that Mother Nature itself has placed the responsibility for one’s existence and wellbeing not merely at … More

“The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies, but also to hate his friends.”–Nietszche

An enemy may hold an uncomfortable truth, while a friend may sometimes reinforce our weaknesses. Nietzsche therefore turns conventional thinking … More

Know Thyself, Everything Else is Noise

My Inner Guru to Me: Chalo, Sam, bahut hogaya ye poetry likhna aur cutely witty hona. Zara serious lo life … More

The Last Leg of the Journey?

I sometimes wonder if I should cease to be, at least in the form of writing. One sees that one … More

Down with Male Patriarchy

The context in which I am writing this is the Raksha Bandhan coming up on Friday, August 28, 2026. If … More

Be Nobody – The Philosophy of Diógenes de Sinope

The things that Sartre does get right in his 1946 lecture “Existentialism is a Humanism”

The one thing that Sartre does get right in his 1946 lecture “Existentialism is a Humanism” (https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exist/sartre.htm) is this: “Our … More

“Essence Precedes Existence”, or Taking on Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre, that quintessential French philosopher of the 20th century, pronounced in his famous 1946 lecture “Existentialism is a Humanism” … More

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be…”–Emerson

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, … More