Thoughts In A Wandering Mind

Here is the blunt version of the problem. The United States has grown — in output, consumption, energy, and material appetite — in essentially one direction for two and a half centuries. We call it "linear growth," but the line is a flattering lie: 2% annual growth is not a line, it is an exponential curve, doubling the economy every 35 years. An economy that doubles, and doubles again, and doubles again, on a planet that does not double, is not a success story running long. It is an arithmetic collision in progress. And because America is not just an economy but the template — the dream every rising nation is sold — its trajectory is not a national choice. It is a planetary instruction manual. The manual is wrong, and someone must say so plainly. The honest accounting Consider what the straight line has already cost. The United States holds about 4% of humanity and has contributed roughly a quarter of all carbon dioxide ever emitted since the industrial age — the larges...

India’s latest growth figures offer a compelling reason for confidence. In April–June 2026, the first quarter of financial year 2026–27, real GDP expanded by 7.8% compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Released on August 31, these estimates describe growth after adjusting for price changes. They do not mean the economy expanded 7.8% over the immediately preceding quarter. That distinction matters when assessing an achievement that deserves both appreciation and careful interpretation. The performance is impressive because several engines contributed. Official figures show investment, measured by gross fixed capital formation, rising 11.9%, household consumption increasing 7.1%, and exports of goods and services growing 12% . Manufacturing and services supported the expansion. An economy gains resilience when households spend, businesses invest and producers find buyers abroad. This combination is more encouraging than growth dependent entirely on a temporary stimulus or a...

On September 5th, India garlands its teachers. We celebrate the birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — a philosopher-teacher from a small Andhra town who rose to interpret Indian thought to Oxford and the world before becoming President of the republic. When his students sought to celebrate him, he redirected the honour : celebrate teachers instead. That redirection contains the whole idea of this article. The highest Indian ambition has never been to be merely rich or merely strong. It has been to be worth learning from. This Teachers' Day, let us resolve — not vaguely wish, but resolve — to make India the Vishwaguru again: the teacher of the world, its universities the destination the world's students dream of, for the world and for the benefit of the world. We have been this before This is not a fantasy borrowed from a slogan; it is a memory. Takshashila taught princes and physicians from across Asia centuries before the common era. Nalanda housed thousands of student...