Culture
Essays and thoughts on culture.
Retro-Futurism and Why It Endures
There's something deeply appealing about a future imagined from the past. Why do we keep returning to it?
The dawn of premium instant coffee in India
How new-age coffee brands used storytelling to make instant coffee premium — and what their marketing is quietly normalizing.
Why Sahib-ibn-Abbad carried 2,06,000 books on 400 camels
The story of a 10th-century Persian vizier whose love for books was so vast it took 400 camels — arranged alphabetically — to carry them.
What Makes a Sitcom Funny?
After watching too many sitcoms, I noticed they all follow the same formula — and it turns out there's a name for it.
The Fading Ambiance of Small Biriyani Shops
The traditional biriyani shop — with its open front, clanging ladles, and fixed menu — is quietly disappearing.
The snack that was named after an explosive
Anugundu — the Tamil name for atom bomb — is a bonda that kept my dad going through poverty and became our morning ritual.
I Ordered Chole Bhature and Received Customer Experience in Return
A small restaurant's thoughtful act of splitting a poori taught me more about customer experience than any business book.
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