Kaustubh Naik

The rw ecosystem has set up a fellowship in Jadunath Sarkar’s name to foster research and publishing in Indian history.

R.I.P. Jayant Narlikar Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (1938-2025) I heard this morning of the death at the age of 86 of renowned Indian cosmologist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. I understand he died peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness. Scientifically, Jayant Narlikar is probably best known for his work with Fred Hoyle on a conformal gravity theory and as an advocate of the Steady State theory of cosmology.

R.I.P. Jayant Narlikar

Professor Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (1938-2025) I heard this morning of the death at the age of 86 of renowned Indian cosmologist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. I understand he died peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness. Scientifically, Jayant Narlikar is probably best known…

Thanks for this great thread Ananya! Have you read this piece by Sagar in Caravan titled ‘What Hindi Keeps Hidden’?It is so close to what you’re saying about languages enabling (or disabling) thoughts.

TIL Teju Cole is married to a Goan.

This Sophia Qureshi optics is a trap that Indian Muslims, and Indian liberals should refrain from falling into. It has set unrealistic standards of acceptance for a community that is structurally persecuted on a daily basis.

The absurdity of our times is so much that Raj Thackeray of all the people has a restrained response, refusing to participate in the ongoing war mongering, and has instead asked pertinent questions about internal security lapses.

What has gotten into Indian liberals that they’ve turned into a war supporting mob overnight?

I am scared beyond measure for friends back in the university.

I am not worried for Kamra as much as I am worried for the crew that put this show together.

The federal funding that is at stake for Penn is mere 0.78% of its current endowment kitty. And yet they’ll crawl like babies in front of these two bullies that the university itself has produced.

Penn chose to crawl when asked to bend and yet their famous alumni has frozen their funding.

Chaava has unintentionally triggered a Brahmin Maratha feud in the Marathi public sphere.

At this point (and maybe I’m overthinking), I am not really sure if I’ll be let back in the country.

The situation at the university keeps deteriorating—funding cuts, disappearing grants, random arrests, and more. It’s the worst environment for research, with the constant pressure of state interference looming overhead.

Gathered some courage and said no to an invite to do a lecture. You either die young or live long enough to be invited as a शिवव्याख्याता.

Not Ravish Kumar asking Modi take a snake from Vantara and leave it in the White House as a response to Trump’s rant on tariffs.

Stripping away the rhetoric associated with this statement, CM is technically correct in asking for a nuance in how we periodise colonial rule in Goa. However, it is a different matter whether the local Marathas were consistently loyal to the Maratha state.

Good days for Maratha history in Goa. However it’s interesting how they are now being invoked. The Goa CM said it’s a falsehood that the entire Goa was under 450 years of Portuguese rule and in fact the new conquests were ruled by Shiv shahi.

Rest of UPenn should’ve disowned Wharton long time ago!

Penn to reduce graduate admissions, rescind acceptances amid federal research funding cuts Penn notified department chairs that it will cut admissions across graduate programs — a decision faculty members say will force them to rescind offers from newly-accepted students.

Whatever time remains at Penn looks so bleak and hopeless that I am wondering if all this was worth it. www.thedp.com/article/2025...

America has become a weird, complex trolley problem.

Hate that Beer Biceps will continue to have a career as a peddler of misinformation and bigotry but we have to do mental gymnastics to come up with nuanced takes on his freedom of speech.

Have zero clue about what Superbowl is but would’ve been nice to be in Philly last night.

Rich Indians in the U.S. are cheering the deportation of Indian immigrants back to India, seemingly oblivious to the fact that such actions could eventually affect them too. They cling to their perceived legality, unaware that it could disappear with a presidential order from the orange man.

Just for once I want to say no to gazillion things and focus on doing just one thing, properly and in time.

Will I be able to finish my PhD before the trump presidency ends? Will fuck around and find out.

I often find myself mourning the closure of Rio Rico, the fine dining restaurant at Panjim’s iconic Hotel Mandovi. Few restaurants in Panjim since have matched its exceptional service, timeless elegance, and, most importantly, its unforgettable food.

Truly bless the AHA for having the 2026 conference in Chicago. Looking forward to returning to Trump’s US but definitely not looking forward for the Midwest winter.

The seminar etiquettes (or the glaring lack thereof) often seen in India never fail to fascinate me.

In a panel delayed by 30 minutes, not a single speaker addressed the intended theme. Instead, the moderator took the podium, delivering a disjointed monologue of random tidbits loosely tied to the supposed topic, leaving no time for a Q&A session.