Pallavi Aiyar

1 week ago | pallaviaiyar.substack.com | Pallavi Aiyar

Dear Global Jigsaw,Does it make you happy? I have always tended to be skeptical of this, in-vogue, yardstick by which to adjudicate life’s big decisions. So much of what gives a life meaning- parenthood, health, discipline, friendships, learning a new skill- does not equate unalloyed happiness. It is difficult things that reward one with the most joy. “Happiness” is too easy to be consequential – like empty calories, a bag of potato chips. Perhaps it is semantic. What I call joy, you call happiness.

2 weeks ago | pallaviaiyar.substack.com | Pallavi Aiyar

Dear Global Jigsaw,Here is the final part of my wide ranging conversation with leading Chinese India-studies scholar, Mao Keji. This part of the interview is open to all, although the previous two were behind a pay wall. The single event that could fundamentally alter the global order? The rise of IndiaIf I could choose, would I rather be born Indian or Chinese? Do subscribe if you would like to access all four parts of this series.

3 weeks ago | pallaviaiyar.substack.com | Pallavi Aiyar

Dear Global Jigsaw, In today’s post, my top ten things to know about Japan. For those who have already been, let me know what else you might have added. To arrive in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, can be a sensorially confoundingexperience. It is a city of some 30 million people, with troops of skyscrapersstampeding across it, often draped in hyper-realistic digital screens that shine likeconstellations of capitalism come down to earth.

3 weeks ago | escapeartist.com | Pallavi Aiyar

To arrive in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, can be a sensorially confounding experience. It is a city of some 30 million people, with troops of skyscrapers stampeding across it, often draped in hyper-realistic digital screens that shine like constellations of capitalism come down to earth. But there is also a hush at the heart of the city’s great shrines and temples, where swirls of incense spiral in dreamlike shapes.

1 month ago | pallaviaiyar.substack.com | Pallavi Aiyar

Dear Global Jigsaw,A pause this week from the ongoing Mao Keji interview on India-China relations to focus on Spain’s Easter—my favorite time of year. While in many parts of the world it may be a festival associated with bunnies and chocolate covered eggs, in Spain, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, as the seven days between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are referred to, is something more elemental all together.