Essays
Thinking on the page.
Reflections, arguments, and ideas that pause, revise, and follow questions beyond the urgency of the moment.
Thinking on the page.
Reflections, arguments, and ideas that pause, revise, and follow questions beyond the urgency of the moment.
Essays is the written side of Thinking in Place.
Some pieces begin with a Middle Ground conversation and continue after the cameras stop. Others frame a question before a discussion, pursue a thread left unresolved, or develop an argument entirely on their own. Each can deepen the other without becoming its transcript.
Writing permits a different rhythm. It allows an idea to pause, gather context, revise itself, and occasionally contradict its first formulation. The essays range across politics, history, culture, books, and travel.
This is a place for writing that remains close to events without being consumed by their speed.
NOTE: Page elements: latest essay, a few thematic groupings, related video where applicable, and a prominent Substack subscription field.
In a time of noise and speed, conversation is one of the few practices that can still slow us down.
Writing & Public Life
Archives & Ethnography
Modern South Asia
Religion, Language & Caste
State, Society & Movements
Power & Everyday Life
August 07, 2026
August 07, 2026
August 07, 2026
August 07, 2026
In a time of noise and speed, conversation is one of the few practices that can still slow us down.
To understand is not to agree. It is to listen long enough to see what a position is trying to say.
Politics is rarely coherent. People live with multiple loyalties, employ different moral lenses...