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I was pointed to an article during a Twitter discussion on the Bullet Train project a little while back. Entitled " The Economics of the Bullet Train and Whether It Makes Financial Sense To Take a 0.1% loan ", it concludes that the project is economically feasible. As a student of earth science, this is my response to the article, as well as my take on the Bullet Train in the context of the climate crisis. The Assumptions With no background in economics, finance or rail technology, I am not in any position to comment on those aspects of the project. Hence, I begin with the assumptions that: The interest rate is very generous (with whatever assumptions required about exchange rates, etc). The Shikansen system is plain awesome. I focus instead on the what the author of the article calls "The "Other" Aspects". My Contentions " Is a bullet train desirable when we don't have enough toilets? " Personally, I do not think build

Maharashtra witnessed some dizzying political theatrics last month. I am not a political analyst, and I do not claim to understand much of what happened. However, as a student of Earth Sciences who is told remarkably often that the "real world" is out of my depth, I have tried to understand this election and put it in perspective of the climate crisis. My attempt to make sense of the State Election chronology While the political circus kept the whole state, and probably the Centre as well, engaged for a whole month, November also saw a parallel plot-line developing. This one directly affected over a crore people and indirectly affected the whole country. In fact, the plot of Kaun banega CM  was so gripping that while going through the November news, I realised that this parallel plot had not even made the headlines. Articles from the print archives of Indian Express In 2019, Maharashtra suffered first from a drought during the monsoonal months, and th