Category: Ethnography and Social
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A Man Was Lost to the Glacier
At 18,600 feet on the Siachen Glacier, a doctor wakes a man from cardiac arrest and is elevated, briefly, to the status of miracle-worker. Then the glacier takes someone else — and no rope, no soldier, no team from the High Altitude Warfare School can bring him back. A story about Siala, and about Major…
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The House of Contesting Wills
Pawan and Shruti grew up in the same house yet in entirely different worlds. Their mother inspected pockets, books, and silences with detective-like precision, while their father dissolved nightly into whiskey, wit, and sleep. Then came Michael Robarts—a lonely young foreigner whose brief stay disturbed the emotional gravity of the household forever.
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Bopa’s Martian Delirium:
ICU Delirium Excerpt: Pulsing Bay & Escape ICU Bay 7, Mars Orbital Clinic The eight corners of the bay pulse—expanding, shrinking with Bopa’s heartbeat. Red dust in his veins, red dust in the lights. Med-foam amplifies every thump. The room breathes as one organism, Bopa its failing heart. Fear flickers. Panic threatens—low-gravity ICU cascade, suffocation…
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Iran the War Of Surprises
Bopa Rai’s essay, “The War of Surprises,” examines the evolution of warfare in the digital age, emphasizing information theory and the significance of unexpected events. As traditional communication systems fail, civilians become vital sensors, generating collective intelligence. Rai quantifies surprises, or “Hartleys,” to navigate the chaos, redefining conflict through uncertainty management.
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Assyrians
The Neo-Assyrian Empire peaked in the 7th Century BCE through brutal conquest but quickly fell between 612 and 609 BCE due to internal strife, civil wars, and external coalitions led by Babylonians and Medes. The ensuing conflicts shaped regional dynamics, leading to relentless warfare influenced by religion and ideology throughout history.
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Crossing the Rubicon
A playful, philosophical retelling of Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon as a shared dream that becomes empire. Myth, history, and morphogenetic fields meet in a thought‑experiment.
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The Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Fool
We had gone to meet a recruit, a young boy who worked in his father’s small grocery store, and though we had not announced ourselves as doctors we were treated as guest doctors anyway, because we were guests of the father and that was enough. Tea was brought, chairs were arranged, and the room filled…