May 2025: Monthly roundup
A great innovation, a brief conflict and how to do nothing
Summer is here. Many of us reminisce about our childhood summer vacations spent at a grandparents’ place. There were no sightseeing lists. The story of the three boys in ‘Malgudi days’ is the best way to describe an idyllic holiday.
Three schoolboys—Swaminathan, Mani, and Rajam—spend a summer afternoon loitering by a sunbaked roadside. When a bullock cart trundles into view, they block its path, pretending to be stern police inspectors. They "inspect" the cart, mock-scold the driver for his "unwashed" bullock, and finally issue him a fake road pass before letting him go. The whole episode is pointless, mischievous, and utterly perfect.
Isn’t that aimless loitering—sitting under a tree, watching dust swirl on an endless road—exactly what lets a child’s nervous system finally exhale? Compare that to the modern "15-day summer holiday" we often plan, crammed with sightseeing checklists, meal stops on a timer, and city-hopping every 48 hours. For the nervous system, it’s just another workday—or school day—in disguise.
The former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a warning recently that mankind was facing an epidemic of chronic stress. He said that above and beyond nutrition and exercise, we also need to address stress which is a major contributor to our health.
Doing nothing can often be the most helpful thing a parent can do. I call it the art of unparenting.
A brief history of drones - their rise during warfare
Earlier in May 2025, India and Pakistan played a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with swarms of drones and missiles flying across their borders. Entire towns flipped their switches off by 6 PM. A battle raged along the borders - yet no soldiers walked across the battlefields, no tanks rolled in, no troops dug trenches. Instead, this war was fought with drones, jammers and AI.
This post on the Lighter Side is a quick history of how drones have gone from being flying cameramen 70 years ago to soldiers in a battlefield, in 2025. The story of the drone began as a humble tool to snap photos of enemy territory. Today, it has emerged as a powerful weapon that can weave through the jagged ridges of mountains and strike targets with terrifying accuracy.
Podcast - How does the world get a new Pope
1.4 billion people (roughly the population of 17 Frances) all take career advice, life tips, and moral guidance from one man in a very fancy hat. He is also called the Pope - the leader of the Roman Catholics (a branch of Christianity).
He’s not just a religious leader. He talks to world leaders, tells organisations how to be more environmentally conscious and even tells countries how to resolve wars and conflicts.
When a Pope dies, how does the world pick a new person for this role? Is there a divine job interview? Or a poll on the internet? I asked 11-year-old Dheer from Surat, and his ideas were gold.
Tell me about the potter who invented a new device
Names like Marie Curie and Thomas Edison dominate our science textbooks as iconic innovators who inspire greatness. But what about the everyday scientists among us?
This month, I shared the story about Mansukh Prajapati. His innovation—a refrigerator that runs without electricity is real. Mansukh is no fancy scientist sitting in a laboratory. He works out of his small shed-like home in Gujarat, where he spent many thousands of hours as a potter. Until he came up with this idea for a clay based refrigerator.
Why India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir - how did it all start?
A few weeks ago in early May, my children had invited their friends over and in true desi style, all the kids wanted to stay over for dinner with Maggi and (hold your breath - Curd Rice!)
The TV was on and Operation Sindoor details were flashing on the screen.
Child 1: 'Aunty, are we at war with Pakistan? Will this take as long as my summer vacation?'
Child 2: 'Or maybe for 2 or 3 years like in Ukraine?'
Child 3: 'My dad told me that Pakistan is obsessed with Kashmir. I understand that Kashmir is scenic for Instagram, but that can't be why right?'
As I began responding to their questions with stories during the India-Pakistan conflict, I realised that it was easy to slip in some vegetables onto their plates. I also realised that my own knowledge of this conflict was a little muddy and so after dinner, I revisited my armchair with the book 'India after Gandhi'.
The stories about how the conflict in Kashmir began, make for grander plots than any James Bond movie.
As a podcaster, I couldn't resist sharing these stories with many more kids and families. And so, I put together a 3 part podcast series on The Origin of Kashmir conflict.
Listen to Part 1: How the conflict in Kashmir began