India celebrated its 74th Independence Day on 15th August. And this week’s set of articles reflect this important day, and other topics such as Yuval Noah Harari on the consequences of Coronavirus and Accelerated Learning:

Nationhood at its Zenith and Nadir – This article explores what it means to be an independent nation in today’s times.

Yuval Noah Harari: “Every crisis is also an opportunity” – In this interview, ‘Israeli historian and author of Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, analyses what the consequences of the current coronavirus health crisis are likely to be, and underlines the need for greater international scientific co-operation and information-sharing between countries.‘

Accelerated Learning: Learn Faster and Remember More – A very interesting article on how ‘You can train your brain to retain knowledge and insight better by understanding how you learn.‘

Can Travel Cure Bias? – Let’s face it, we all have some biases, whether conscious or sub-conscious. This article argues that “In a perfect world, travel can indeed cure bias… We can better navigate the cultural zeitgeist of a place and its people when we roll our sleeves up, dive in and throw out the book we think we already read.”

Freedom from the Curry Tag – One of my pet peeves, after living abroad for many years, is how there is an overwhelming tendency to club all Indian food under the generic ‘Curry’ tag. I wish and hope that non-Indians will appreciate that Indian food is far more diverse (and tastier) than what passes for Indian food (curries) in most Indian restaurants outside of India. This article explores ‘How Indian-origin chefs liberated Indian food from the anglicised spicy gravy narrative‘.