Vivek 🇮🇳

Bengaluru Woman Questions India's Work Culture After US Visit: "At 4:30 pm, The Office Was Empty" ndtv.com/feature/bengal…

🧵 Starting a thread of book reviews I have written over the years. Let's start with, what else, the Mahabharata! 1️⃣The Mahabharata: Volume 1, translated by Bibek Debroy @BibekDebroy (sir) did an English translation of the unabridged Critical Edition of the Mahabharata from BORI @BhandarkarI (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute), and was published by @PenguinIndia from 2010 to 2014. They did a boxed set a few years later, and most recently, came out with a hardcover boxed set. I titled my review of the first volume, "A strong start to a marathon..." This is what I had written about Bibek da: "Bibek Debroy, the translator, is an economist with a difference. How so? Well, consider this. In the early 1980s, while at the Presidency College in Kolkata, the author wrote a paper where he did a "statistical test on the frequency with which the five Pandavas used various weapons in the Kurukshetra war." Yes. Different." (Hardcover boxed set, brought out by Penguin, 2024) And about the first volume: "This first volume contains most of the Adi Parva - "90 percent of Adi Parva", and contains 199 chapters and a little less than 6,500 shlokas. It contains 15 parvas (as per the 100 parva classification), and a little less than the entire Adi Parva (as per the 18-parva classification), and ends with the Rajya-labha Parvav (as per the 100-parva classification)" Remember the idiom, "Child is the father of man", from William Wordsworth's 19th Century poem? Well, it turns out Vyasa had expressed the same, but a few thousand years earlier. भस्त्रा माता पितुः पुत्रो येन जातः स एव सः "Born from the father, the son is the father himself." —[1.69.32] Shakuntala to Dushyanta The first volume itself had started to bust some longstanding myths about incidents. I wrote: "In the critical edition, there is no mention that Droupadi forbade Karna from attempting to string the bow at her swayamvar. Later, in the second volume, we read that it was not Droupadi but the other Pandavas that laughed aloud at Duryodhana's missteps in the Maya Sabha at Indraprastha." (Box set from Penguin) blog.abhinavagarwal.net/2012/03/mahabh… You can get the set from @PadhegaIndia_ padhegaindia.in/product/the-ma… and other online and offline retailers.

Over the years, under the stewardship of Shri @AbhinavAgarwal INDICA has worked to nurture writers, support first-time authors, and ensure that meaningful Indic voices reach wider audiences. From publishing grants and underwriting pathbreaking works to supporting global book launches and influencer outreach, the effort has always been to strengthen the ecosystem around ideas and storytelling. Some milestones from this journey: • 238 Publishing Grants with Notion Press for first-time authors • Underwriting support for unique works such as Vritrahan, Sankarayanam, and Vedic Mindfulness • Distribution of 35,000 copies of books by 300+ authors to influencers and public personalities • 150+ global multi-city book launches • 30+ online book launches connecting authors with readers worldwide Behind every number is a writer who found encouragement, a reader who discovered a new perspective, and a conversation that entered the public sphere. The Indic knowledge tradition has always thrived through transmission - from teacher to student, storyteller to listener, and author to reader. Supporting books and authors is part of sustaining that living continuum. Read more about this impactful journey in Abhinav ji's own words: indica.in/status-report-…

Gurugram Couple Earning Rs 36 Lakh Go DINK Way. Here's Why ndtv.com/offbeat/gurugr…

Gurugram Couple Earning Rs 36 Lakh Go DINK Way. Here's Why ndtv.com/offbeat/gurugr…