On a recent trip to Bengaluru and Mysuru, I made a simple rule: eat only South Indian food, preferably at places with outsized reputations. The rule led me to three dosa institutions. A dosa is never just a dosa; there are many variants, each with its loyalists and logic. And you can’t quite separate the […]
Water, Sand, Stone: A Road Trip from Bengaluru to Mysuru
Num ooru, Mysuru, nim ooru yaar ooru (Mysuru is my town, what is your town?). Decades ago, I sang that line with a child’s fierce conviction. Recently, my wife and I followed that childhood refrain back, driving from Bengaluru to Mysuru. We made the most of the journey. Three stops. Three elements. Three encounters with […]
GDP Part 3: Making Sense of India’s Recent GDP Controversies
When countries change how they measure GDP, old numbers almost always get revised. In developing countries, as better data becomes available over time, these revisions can be large and spark debate. India is especially vulnerable to this dynamic. Its huge informal sector complicates GDP measurement. At the same time, Prime Minister Modi has made development […]