Published inQ.E.D.·PinnedMen Who Doubt InfinityIn Oxford, the moon shines with a particular intensity. At least, it certainly seemed that way to me. Every evening, once darkness had stretched fully across the night sky, like a blanket of fresh ink, the moon would appear and compel my gaze. …Ramanujan6 min readRamanujan6 min read
Published inMusic & the Earth International·Nov 4, 2021The Red Violin — SoundtrackListen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_miS8YuWWo. The first time I watched The Red Violin, I thought that its story was intensely ominous, and laced with menacing superstition. …4 min read4 min read
Published inMusic & the Earth International·Nov 4, 2021Shetland — SoundtrackListen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEfLkUxhBCI I listen to the title track of a Scottish detective series called Shetland, and recall what (most of) Europe must have lost. It’s a world that I cannot actually recall of course, having never lived in it. But as the violin reaches up towards the sky, I…2 min read2 min read
Published inMusic & the Earth International·Nov 4, 2021Life of Pi — SoundtrackListen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYTlw8nEUTA&list=PLeNCRyoxRPrVUN8ZLuGMPxe-0BlPn8jae. As the sun sets and the mystery of darkness takes its place, I wonder about the places I have never been to. I wonder about this world, its waters and its skies and its beings. I wonder at what we call the miracle of life, and I…4 min read4 min read
Jun 28, 2019“Random”Once upon a time, on a frosty day in January, I was on a domestic flight from one city in the United States of America to another. I was seated next to a fellow named Joe, who spent the first thirty seconds of the flight flipping through the airline magazine…Politics7 min readPolitics7 min read
Published inMusic & the Earth International·May 30, 2018EndolphinsDo you recall that scene in Titanic when, in rhythm with the film’s billowing soundtrack, a dolphin jumps into the air, eliciting whoops of elation from a fresh-faced Leo DiCaprio? I do! To be perfectly frank, I remember it like it was yesterday, and I cherish it still. Watching a…Climate Change4 min readClimate Change4 min read
Published inMusic & the Earth International·May 21, 2018The walls play music, tooMusic does not come from us alone. To say that it does is hubristic and false. Music comes not only from our bodies and our instruments, but also from the air that surrounds us, and all of the features of the landscape that take our sound and work on it. …Music2 min readMusic2 min read
Published inMusic & the Earth International·Apr 17, 2018Soundscapes After HoursMusic, environmentalism, and islands. Enter these three words into a Google search field, and you will encounter a variety of results. Most have to do with the connection between the environment and the “music world.” Articles on environmentalism in music, lists of songs about the environment, information about composers and…Climate Change6 min readClimate Change6 min read
Published inListening to India·Feb 7, 2018The Caves of AjantaBetween the second century BCE and 480 CE, Buddhist monks cut and painted twenty-nine caves on the rock faces of Ajanta. Today, the Ajanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are widely considered to be among the most spectacular monuments in Maharashtra. If my travels in India were…Travel3 min readTravel3 min read
Published inListening to India·Feb 7, 2018Home HeritageThe landscape on the drive to Ajanta is absolutely beautiful — bucolic, mild, rolling fields that remind me of the central Italian province of Tuscany. Tuscany is where the city of Florence is located, and it is home to some of the most exemplary heritage conservation projects around. The cities…Short Story5 min readShort Story5 min read
