Category: India

briefing, Culture, IndiaLeave a comment

How One of the World’s Biggest Reading Nations Feeds Its Habit

Colin Henderson

Voracious readers in India are turning to a centuries-old private lending system as public libraries fall short. Akanksha SinghAugust 13, 2026 at 10:00 PM EDT The shelves at Victoria Circulating Library and Music House leave little room for snobbery. Mills & Boon romances are wedged beside literary classics. Political biographies sit atop Tintincomics. Towering stacks of dog-eared thrillers line narrow aisles, alongside DVDs, CDs and Hindi bestsellers piled Tetris-style in triple and quadruple layers. Despite the apparent chaos, owner Arif Merchant knows where everything is. He’s spent four decades serving customers in the Mumbai neighborhood of Mahim, building a vast inventory … Continue reading How One of the World’s Biggest Reading Nations Feeds Its Habit

India, iran, Pakistan

India-Pakistan-Iran: The Intersecting Triangle

Colin Henderson

Good timing to dig into this — there’s quite a lot moving simultaneously, and today’s Quetta attack lands at a structurally significant moment. The analytical frame. India-Pakistan-Iran: The Intersecting Triangle What happened today (and why it matters beyond the incident) A suicide car bomb struck a train in Quetta, Balochistan today, killing at least 24 people and wounding more than 50. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility, saying it targeted a train carrying security personnel.  This is not an isolated event. The BLA has carried out a sustained campaign in 2026, including a series of coordinated attacks on January … Continue reading India-Pakistan-Iran: The Intersecting Triangle

Diplomacy, Geopolitics, India

Morning Briefing — Saturday, May 23, 2026 · 08:00 EST · 1,180 words

Colin Henderson

Today’s environment clusters around one pivot: whether the Iran-US frozen conflict will convert to a lasting framework before the current ceasefire frays beyond recovery. That question is now touching every adjacent thread — oil prices, Hormuz navigation, European defence posture, and Rubio’s India visit, which opens today with the Quad reset as explicit subtext. A secondary theme is the widening gap between US fiscal credibility and the legislative agenda in Washington. 1. What Changed Iran-US deal: One-page memo in draft; Munir heading to TehranIran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed it is reviewing the latest US position as of May 21, with Pakistan’s … Continue reading Morning Briefing — Saturday, May 23, 2026 · 08:00 EST · 1,180 words

India1 Comment

Indian online banking statistics

Colin Henderson

Bills paid online, per HH align closely to North American numbers. The Hindu Business Line : Average Indian household pays 42 bills online a year: Study an average Indian household in the top 10 cities in the country pays up to 42 bills online annually, most of it to finance, insurance, telecom and utilities companies. And the community of Internet-savvy Indians paying bills online is expected to increase from the current 0.3 million in 2005-06 to 1.8 million by 2007-2008 Continue reading Indian online banking statistics