Monthly Archive: September 2011

This is how Aryabhata’s “Ardh-Jya” became “Sine”

Aryabhata discussed the concept of sine in his work by the name of ardha-jya. Literally, it means “half-chord“. For simplicity, people started calling it jya. When Arabic writers translated his works from Sanskrit into Arabic, they...

We are like this only…

Almost 50 years ago, in October 1962, young men of the Ahir Charlie Company from 13 Kumaon faced an extraordinary assault. It came in the early hours of dawn, as snow was falling at Rezang...

On Lokpal, Liberalisation and Corruption

Here’s a 15-min video of an extempore speech at the Odisha High Court Bar Association in Cuttack on the topic of Lokpal, laws and corruption. I made the following points in this informal speech:...

In the season of fasts, does anyone remember Jatin Das?

From “Remember Jatindra Nath Das?” by Sh Balbir K Punj (emphasis added): On September 13, 1929, a youth from Bengal gave up his life in a prison of Lahore fasting for 63 days. He literally...

In which I appear alongside Vidya Balan…

..or Notes from the Road and the 3 States, 4 cities, 20hr workdays Outreach… Its been more than a week since I got into my normal routine…but the ideas keep coming in …The outreach...