India

The sound ळ is a retroflex L/ल. Garhwali has this sound Haryanvi has it Punjabi has it Rajasthani dialects have it Marathi has it Tamil has it, in fact, it is the last sound in the name of the language itself. 1 Malayalam has it. In fact, in the name of the language, the first l is normal, but the second l is retroflex (मलयाळम) Even Vedic Sanskrit recognizes this sound. So, how come it is missing from modern Hindi? Well, probably because this sound isn’t used in the Delhi-Meerut dialect that became the standard dialect of Hindi. ...

Rakhigarhi (राखीगढ़ी), an archeological site in Haryana, is dated to 3000 BC and might be even older. As of July 2021, the site isn’t ready for visitors just yet. There is a museum, but that’s under construction too. So, if you are planning to visit, wait for a few years.

We sat for juices and tea in Colombo. An ex-army man ran the stall. He served during the Tamil-Sinhalese civil war that subsumed North Sri Lanka.

A doctors per capita comparison misses out on the nuances of how healthcare is delivered in different countries

After an amazing 5-day trip in Sri Lanka, we were to catch a late night Air India flight from Colombo to New Delhi. The flight was delayed due to an engine malfunction. First by an hour. Then another hour. And four-hours later, when the repair work finished, the flight pilot’s shift had already ended! An emergency flight was planned and it was supposed to arrive 20-hours later! Air India sent all the passengers to a complimentary all-inclusive stay in Taj Samundra. ...

Why does Punjab produce so many singers? Even from the nearby Haryana, New Delhi, or Uttar Pradesh, the best singers usually sing in Punjabi. So, why are so many good singers Punjabi speaking? Well, there is an answer. A perfect pitch is the ability to discern sounds that are close (within 6%) in frequencies. Having a more perfect pitch makes you better at singing. Learning a tonal language makes you better at perfect pitch. And Punjabi is the only tonal language of India!

Bengaluru-based Postman, a API management product, has raised a total of $433 million valuing it at ~$5.6B. Its revenue was $171M in 2023. As a comparison, Rubrik with ~ $850M ARR is valued at $6B or about 7 times its revenue. The same metric would put Postman’s valuation at $1.2B. I would argue further that Postman has much lower stickiness and will face higher churn and hence, the revenue multiple would be lower for Postman. ...

One unique aspect of Indian culture is its desire to innovate in culinary. Tomato was first introduced to India in the 16th century. Now, it is an integral part of Indian cooking and is used in ways most others cultures won’t.

Indian passport remains weak, as per Henley’s 2021 index, India has visa-free access to only 59 countries and that excludes the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Schengen zone. Before ruminating on that, it is worth asking why China, which is 5 times richer than India in terms of per capita GDP is not doing significantly better either. The island countries of the Caribbean with a population of less than a million have better access than China. Even war-torn Venezuela has a better passport including visa-free access to Western Europe ...

The northern part of Bengal is known as Gorkhaland. It, along with Sikkim, is the Nepali-speaking region of India. This part is known mostly for its mountainous beauty. If you are flying in, Bagdogra is the closest airport. The airside of this airport is congested, so I would recommend not checking in too early. Day 1 - Bagdogra to Darjeeling We took the taxi from Bagdogra to Darjeeling. It is a risky mountainous drive, and most portions of the narrow road allow only a single car, so definitely budget 4-5 hours for this. In the evening, we checked out the local market as well as the local Mahakal temple. It is a bit of a hike, and you will encounter a good local market in your journey as well. I would highly recommend trying momos here. There are tons of sellers selling veg and non-veg momos for ₹50 a plate. ...