Some 3-4 days back, I wrote a post in the Indian Economy Blog with a conjecture as to why India never got an overwhelming "gentleman class" in the way that European countries did. I forgot to cross post it here back then, so I'm doing it now.

Actually, when I posted this I wasn't even sure if it would be appropriate for the IEB. I'm not sure even ( Read more... )

In temple towns such as Horanadu and Sringeri, the temple has a virtual monopoly over accommodation for tourists. There have been a few private lodges springing up in both places of late, but indifferent quality means these are places of last resort for tourists. The temple accommodation, however, is well maintained and clean, and most importantly ( Read more... )

I wrote this in a mail to the Satin group. This was in response to a mail by Amit Varma talking about priests in Haridwar who conduct the pre-ashes-dunking ceremony, and their fees, and the bargaining, and what could be a decent solution for the problem. I thought it might make sense as a standalone post, so I'm reproducing it here.
"The place" for ( Read more... )

I finally uploaded pics from my recent pilgrimage. Here you go..


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During my recent pilgrimage, three of my four meals were at temples - two at the Horanadu temple and one at Sringeri. For the fourth meal, we took a conscious decision that a temple meal may not be suitable for an overnight bus journey on a bumpy road, so we ate at a restaurant.

The temple meal was kinda standardized. In both places. Steaming hot ( Read more... )

I don't understand why most temples ban photography inside the premises. I mean there are so many strong things that are there inside temples that are "capture-able" that it's almost criminal that photography is banned. My mom says the ban is so that unscrupulous elements don't take pictures and then distort them. If this is the reason, then I ( Read more... )

Now that this half-blasphemous title is out of the way, let me get straight to the point. Actually I think a bit of beating around the bush is warranted. When I read Tyler Cowen's Discover Your Inner Economist, I wasn't sure if i would be quoting part of this book on my blog. However, considering that I almost directly applied one of the ideas ( Read more... )

Today, on the occasion of my father's first year death ceremony, I discarded my janavaara (sacred thread)

The Kannada phrase for Holi is "kaamana habba", or Kama's festival. It is supposedly on this day that Kama, the Hindu god of love, danced in front of the meditating Shiva in order to gain his attention. Shiva got incensed and opened his third eye and burnt Kama down to ashes. This of course, is one of the legends of Holi, apart from the other more ( Read more... )

Contingent upon a favourable position of the moon, a unique alignment is going to happen this friday. Holi, Good Friday and Id Milad all occur on the same day. I'm not able to recall the last occasion when festivals of three very different religions, which follow vastly different calendars occur on the same day.

I'm curious to know that kind of ( Read more... )