When the neighbor’s baby visiting us got startled by the sound of cutlery my wife was using, I pointed to the kitchen & said, “Alaka”.
Now we have a problem. The mother told us when the baby hears any noise, including thunder, she points at the direction, smiles & says, “Alaka”.

Gandhi gave us a famous motto: Recall the face of the poorest man you have seen, & ask if the step you contemplate is of use to him.

As inequality worsens, it is time for a new motto: If you’re suffering economically, recall the face of the richest man you have seen, & be happy.

Some inequality is good for efficiency & drives growth. But the level of inequality in India today is at an all-time high & data shows it’s among the highest in the world. This is causing hardship for farmers & youth looking for work. We need policy correction. My OpEd in Hindi.

Waiting for the next solar eclipse.

Bryant Park, New York

Solar eclipse tomorrow—a day to remember Thales of Miletus. It’s often said “philosophy” began on 28 May 585 BC. That was the day when for the first time a solar eclipse was predicted. It was Thales, great geometrician & philosopher, who figured out the eclipse was coming.

Can’t decide productive or unproductive day.

Manhattan cubism, window as frame.

One problem with grandchildren visiting is you find the house littered with spelling mistakes.

Adobe Photoshop looking out a Philadelphia window

Ashoka Mody talks to Karna Basu about his new book on the Indian economy ⁦Hunter College⁩

I was listening to Shakira sing Waka Waka and thought the rhythm is getting into me.

Not MAGA (Make America Great Again) or MIGA or MCGA. We need to celebrate our common human identity. Suffering anywhere is a tragedy, whether or not you share an identity with the sufferer. The need of the hour is MEGA: Make the Earth Great Again.

In the 50s America, a man being interviewed for a school teaching job was asked, “Is the world flat or round?” He looked at the interviewers nervously & said, “I can teach it flat or round.”
(Last para of my OpEd in Bengali)

Happy to share the Chinese translation of my short history of economic thought, from 1776 to contemporary times, published by Beijing's Golden Rose Books Co.
kaushikbasu.org/wp-content/upl…

My sisters and nephew in Calcutta, once upon a time.

Two outstanding sketches, of Elinor Ostrom and Joseph Stiglitz, by the renowned artist Sanjay Bhattacharya.

Rainy evening in New York.

“I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live.” That was Rabindranath Tagore, in a letter to a friend, years before he won the Nobel Prize. This was clearly an appeal to the world, to go beyond narrow boundaries & cherish our common human identity.

Among my large clan of relatives, many of them devout Hindus, some had voted BJP earlier. But they feel they can’t anymore. The cronyism & mega corruption like electoral bonds, done using religion as a front, & the damage to India’s institutions, is unacceptable to them.