Namit Arora's writing



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NAMIT ARORA'S WRITING

NAMIT, the founder of Shunya, grew up in the Indian cow-belt city of Gwalior, famous for its fort and the first epigraphic evidence of zero. His training at the IIT in Bengal led him to Louisiana for a masters in computer engineering, and a great escape to the San Francisco Bay Area in the early '90s. Since then he has played a cog in the wheel of Internet technology at three failed startups and three big corporations. This hasn't made him wise, but has enabled him to attend lectures of dubious practical value at Stanford and to live, work, or travel in scores of countries, including yearlong stints in London and Amsterdam.

During a two-year break, Namit traveled across India and created a photojournal. Over a hundred organizations, including 15 museums, 30 academies, and 40 publishers, have licensed his photos. His writing has appeared in venues like the Humanist, Philosophy Now, the Kyoto Journal, Culture Wars, The Philosopher, and three college anthologies in the U.S. He has a column on 3 Quarks Daily, often writes for Himal, and has finished a novel that he hasn't published yet. Namit's review of Joothan won the 3 Quarks Daily 2011 Arts & Literature Prize. His recent work includes River of Faith, a documentary film about the Kumbh Mela (email, blog, favorite books and quotes).

COLUMNS FOR 3 QUARKS DAILY:

Revisiting the Idea of India — Part 2; 3 Quarks Daily, 22 Apr 2013
River of Faith: A film about the Kumbh Mela 2013; 3 Quarks Daily, 18 Feb 2013
Revisiting the Idea of India — Part 1; 3 Quarks Daily, 03 Dec 2013
The Revenge of the East?; 3 Quarks Daily, 13 Aug 2012
On Eating Animals; 3 Quarks Daily, 18 Jun 2012
The Inner Lives of Animals; 3 Quarks Daily, 21 May 2012
As Though We Were Immortal; 3 Quarks Daily, 30 Jan 2012
The Bhagavad Gita Revisited — Part 2; 3 Quarks Daily, 02 Jan 2012
The Bhagavad Gita Revisited — Part 1; 3 Quarks Daily, 05 Dec 2011
Herodotus, the Iliad, and 9/11; 3 Quarks Daily, 26 Sep 2011
On Public Corruption in India; 3 Quarks Daily, 12 Sep 2011
The Lost City of Ugarit; 3 Quarks Daily, 15 Aug 2011
Indians Abroad: A Story from Trinidad; 3 Quarks Daily, 20 Jun 2011
The Leatherbacks of Trinidad; 3 Quarks Daily, 23 May 2011
What Do We Deserve?; 3 Quarks Daily, 28 Mar 2011
Decolonizing My Mind; 3 Quarks Daily, 7 Feb 2011
Trying is All We Have; 3 Quarks Daily, 3 Jan 2011 (fiction)
On the Void of Nagarjuna; 3 Quarks Daily, 6 Dec 2010
James A. FitzPatrick's India; 3 Quarks Daily, 1 Nov 2010
War and the American Republic; 3 Quarks Daily, 13 Sep 2010
On Caste Privilege; 3 Quarks Daily, 16 Aug 2010
Putty in Her Hands; 3 Quarks Daily, 21 Jun 2010 (fiction)
The Dance of Indian Democracy; 3 Quarks Daily, 24 May 2010
The Man in the BMW; 3 Quarks Daily, 26 Apr 2010 (fiction)
Joothan: A Dalit's Life; 3 Quarks Daily, 29 Mar 2010
The Blight of Hindustan; 3 Quarks Daily, 1 Mar 2010
Early Islam, Part 5: Epilogue; 3 Quarks Daily, 4 Jan, 2010 (written summer 00)
Early Islam, Part 4: The Mystic Tide; 3 Quarks Daily, 7 Dec 2009 (written summer 00)
Early Islam, Part 3: The Path of Reason; 3 Quarks Daily, 9 Nov 2009 (written summer 00)
Early Islam, Part 2: The Golden Age; 3 Quarks Daily, 12 Oct 2009 (written summer 00)
Early Islam, Part 1: The Rise of Islam; 3 Quarks Daily, 14 Sep 2009 (written summer 00)
On Knowledge Without Wisdom; 3 Quarks Daily, 16 Aug 2009
In Light of Nalanda; 3 Quarks Daily, 20 Jul 2009
The Dearth of Artificial Intelligence; 3 Quarks Daily, 22 Jun 2009
Atheistic Materialism in Ancient India; 3 Quarks Daily, 25 May 2009
A Sales Conference; 3 Quarks Daily, 27 Apr, 2009 (fiction)
America, the Cold War, and the Taliban; 3 Quarks Daily, 30 Mar 2009
Asian Food for Thought; 3 Quarks Daily, 3 Mar 2009
Being Liberal in a Plural World; 3 Quarks Daily, 2 Feb 2009
Marco Polo's India; 3 Quarks Daily, 5 Jan 2009

ARTICLES IN MISC PUBLICATIONS

The Minds of Machines; Philosophy Now, Nov 2011
What Do We Deserve?; The Humanist, May/June 2011; Also included in three anthologies for college students in the U.S. from Sage Publications, McGraw-Hill, and Bedford/St. Martin's.
A Letter from an IITian; The Scholar's Avenue, IIT Kharagpur, 20 Apr 2011
Marco Polo's India; Kyoto Journal 74, Silk Roads Special Issue, June 2010 (read)
The Reach of Reason; International Journal on Humanistic Ideology, Vol. 2 No. 2, 2009 (read)
Being Liberal in a Plural World; The Philosopher, Volume LXXXXVII No. 1 Spring 2009
Homosexuality in India; Countercurrents.org, Aug 2008
On Being Spiritual; Avatar Review, Issue 9, May 2007
A Hammam in Damascus; Hackwriters, March 2007
The Wonder That Was India; The Pioneer, July 16, 2006
Notes from Cuzco; Destination Elsewhere, Mar 2005
Rome isn't just for Romans; Travelmag, Jan 2005
The Station of Light; Nimble Spirit, Nov 2004
Divinity is Here; Slow Trains Literary Journal, Vol IV, 2004
On My New High-Tech Job; White Crow, Volume III, Issue 1, 1997

ARTICLES IN HIMAL SOUTHASIAN:

No Saints or Miracles; Himal Southasian quarterly 'Are we sure about India?', January 2013
Such a long journey; Himal Southasian, Oct-Nov 2011
The Void of Nagarjuna; Himal Southasian, Jan 2011
In Light of Nalanda; Himal Southasian, Mar 2010
Polo on the Coromandel; Himal Southasian, Dec 2009
Ancient Indian Scepticism; Himal Southasian, Aug 2009
The Reservoirs of Dholavira; Himal Southasian, Dec 2008

ARTICLES IN CULTURE WARS:

Asian Food for Thought; Culture Wars, Nov 2009
What Confucius Said; Culture Wars, Feb 2009
The Wonder That Was India; Culture Wars, Aug 2006

ARTICLES IN WORDS AND PICTURES MAGAZINE:

Divinity is Here; Words and Pictures Magazine, Issue 5, Fall 2006 (written Dec 01)
Nobody's Land; Words and Pictures Magazine, Issue 4, Spring 2006 (written Jul 01)
Death in the Afternoon; Words and Pictures Magazine, Issue 3, Fall 2005 (written Aug 95)
The Lost City of Ugarit; Words and Pictures Magazine, Issue 1, Fall 2004 (written Nov 01)

ARTICLES IN SHUNYA:

Advice to a Young Artist; Shunya, 15 Dec 2001 (written 1997-2001)
On Herodotus' Histories; Shunya, 15 Dec 2001 (written summer 99)