by Aseem Gupta | Jan 25, 2017 | Society, Culture & Demographics
India and China are home to approximately 2.89 billion people. Together, they contain close to 35% of humanity, even though they occupy only a relatively small share of the planet’s land. No other two countries come close. The immediate temptation is to explain this...
by Aseem Gupta | Jan 12, 2017 | Economics, Markets & Money
An engagement ring is a remarkably small object on which to place so much weight. It can represent commitment, security, social status and the promise of a shared future. It can also carry a four-figure price tag, even though the polished diamond at its centre may be...
by Aseem Gupta | Jul 24, 2016 | Biography, Lives & Historical Figures
The popular version of Wojtek’s story belongs in a war film: artillery explodes across the Italian mountains while an enormous bear strides through the chaos carrying ammunition for Polish soldiers. The truth is less cinematic, but no less extraordinary. Wojtek did...
by Aseem Gupta | Feb 14, 2016 | Relationships, Love & Human Connection
You notice someone across a crowded gathering. You ask mutual friends about them, dress more carefully when you expect to meet, and wonder whether a smile means genuine interest or ordinary politeness. Perhaps you send a gift, arrange another encounter, or rely on a...
by Aseem Gupta | Feb 8, 2016 | History, Empires & Civilizations
In the ruins of Hampi, the scale of the vanished city remains difficult to comprehend. Temple towers rise above boulder-strewn hills. Stone bazaars stretch towards sacred complexes. Aqueducts, reservoirs, roads, gateways and palace foundations reveal a capital built...
by Aseem Gupta | Feb 7, 2016 | History, Empires & Civilizations
The Delhi Sultanate’s expansion into the Deccan seemed, for a time, to prove that armies based in northern India could dominate almost the entire subcontinent. Delhi’s commanders raided wealthy capitals, forced powerful kings to submit, carried enormous quantities of...
by Aseem Gupta | Feb 6, 2016 | Biography, Lives & Historical Figures
On the ninth day of the fourth lunar month in 752, thousands of monks, courtiers, officials, musicians, dancers and foreign dignitaries gathered at Tōdai-ji in Japan’s imperial capital of Nara. Before them sat an enormous bronze image of Vairocana Buddha, the product...
by Aseem Gupta | Feb 5, 2016 | History, Empires & Civilizations
In 1025, an imperial force from southern India crossed the Bay of Bengal and attacked a chain of ports connected to Srivijaya, the dominant maritime power of Southeast Asia. The campaign reached across a commercial world linking the Tamil coast with Sumatra, the Malay...
by Aseem Gupta | Feb 4, 2016 | History, Empires & Civilizations
More than four thousand years ago, millions of people lived in cities and settlements spread across a vast part of northwestern South Asia. They built neighbourhoods with brick-lined drains, dug hundreds of wells, captured seasonal rainwater in enormous reservoirs,...
by Aseem Gupta | Feb 3, 2016 | History, Empires & Civilizations
When Kim Jong Il died in December 2011, television footage from North Korea showed crowds collapsing in grief. Men and women sobbed in streets and public squares. Some clutched one another for support. Others beat the frozen ground with their hands as the funeral...
