Nirmukta Videos

Geetha TG talks about raising kids as skeptics and humanists

Science & Philosophy

  • A Matter of Privilege – Recipes for an Elitist MarriageAugust 26, 201410

    A Matter of Privilege – Recipes for an Elitist Marriage

    “Have the match-making aunties started making a queue outside your home?”, I asked my friend, who was passing out of IIT.

    “Yeah. A lot of proposals have already come. My mom is handling all that stuff”

  • What’s So Moral About AIDS Anyway?July 5, 20140

    What’s So Moral About AIDS Anyway?

    Well, to answer the question in the title, Dr Harsha Vardhan, India’s new Union Health Minister in the BJP-led government, certainly thinks so. In an interview with The New York Times, Dr Vardhan expressed his reservation about the promotion of condom usage in AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns. He said: The thrust of the AIDS campaign should not only be on the use of condoms…This sends the wrong message that you can have any kind of illicit sexual relationship, but […]

  • Of ‘hate hags’, witch-hunts, and the Orwellian WomanApril 6, 201411

    Of ‘hate hags’, witch-hunts, and the Orwellian Woman

    The term ‘hate hag’, used to describe “women supporters of Narendra Modi” in an Outlook Magazine article recently gained currency, especially on social media. Vrinda Gopinath, who authored the article, clearly referred to three women—Madhu Kishwar, Tavleen Singh, and Sandhya Jain—as ‘Modi’s mausis’ (Modi’s aunts)

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Pseudoscience & Religion

  • The Spirulina Racket And Why Panaceas Do Not ExistJanuary 7, 20151

    The Spirulina Racket And Why Panaceas Do Not Exist

    What I saw on a white board at a school in Mysuru took me back to my days as a teacher of biochemistry, classes on nutrition and a lot of other stuff. It also awoke the consumer activist in me, and the myth buster too! The blurb says that 1 spirulina is equal to 10kgs of vegetables/fruits besides making claims of it containing all vitamins from a to z! Is spirulina what is claimed to be? How the peddlers of […]

  • Children and SuperstitionsDecember 26, 20144

    Children and Superstitions

    The abuse of children for and in the name of religions and related superstitions has been going on since time immemorial, writes Prof. Narendra Nayak

  • The Pope, the Prime Minister and the Islamic StateNovember 17, 20141

    The Pope, the Prime Minister and the Islamic State

    While one may wonder what the Pope and the Prime Minister may have in common, I would like to elaborate why. Both are desperate to cling on to their following and hence the commonality! This has reference to two of their statements made recently – one of the Pope Francis who says that the Big Bang theory may be right and that god is no magician with a wand sitting out there in the sky while the other of the […]

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Freethought Activism

  • The Anguish of Perumal MuruganJanuary 23, 20150

    The Anguish of Perumal Murugan

    In the silencing of Perumal Murugan and his tragic reaction, there is one more thing that has been bothering me. Yes, support is slowly building up and protests are being organized. But time and again we hear voices being judgmental about the decision taken by Perumal Murugan. Whenever and wherever people discussed this passionately there were people who kept saying, ‘He should not have given up so easily.’ On the one end were people who called him spineless for letting […]

  • Avasthe of URA’s Samskara!September 27, 20140

    Avasthe of URA’s Samskara!

    If I may be pardoned for the play on these Kannada words which are also the titles of two of the famous books of Jnanapita award winner Dr.U.R.Ananthamurthy popularly known by his initials, I will elaborate on the choice. Avasthe means disorder in Kannada and samskara is the abbreviated word for antya samaskara or the last rites performed before the disposal of one’s mortal remains! Well, URA was well known for his controversial remarks, his fearless speeches and his very […]

  • A Report on the 33rd Chennai Freethinkers’ MeetSeptember 16, 20140

    A Report on the 33rd Chennai Freethinkers’ Meet

    Report by Prema Ravi. Thirty two Chennai Freethinkers meets have gone by during which I was an active spectator and passive participant – witnessing the various activities from the comfort of my private space, observing, learning and watching like a passenger looking through a window during a long train journey. On 20.07.2014, for the first time I ventured to attend a CFT meet which had been arranged jointly with Catalyst Study Circle. The programme was a bilingual discussion by a […]

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Humor & Creative Arts

  • Life in the world of Involuntary behaviorsMay 30, 20144

    Life in the world of Involuntary behaviors

    I tic and twitch and tap and swear, As I get on with my life of care. Non- sense phrases invade my speech, As I get on with the problem to teach. Patients come in and patients walk out, I see fear in their eyes as they see me tic. Interns gaze at me in awe, The new nurse has a frown plastered on her face!

  • Thoughts From A Secular HumanistApril 20, 201228

    Thoughts From A Secular Humanist

    I have no invisible authority I am not mentally enslaved, I am not an unworthy sinner Who is waiting to be saved. My actions are my own Responsibility for which I will take, Credit for the good and penalty for the bad The payment for my deeds only I can make. I’m not the innocent, confused child; ‘Humble’ messengers try to find, I’m a skeptic with adult reasoning Who has left Faith behind. The answers gifted by logic and reason […]

  • A Debate between GenerationsMarch 5, 201228

    A Debate between Generations

    The year is 2032 CE and I have perhaps kicked the bucket much earlier. Ananya, my eight year old grand-daughter currently, has since become a Rocket scientist and she likes to discuss philosophical issues with her grandmother, my wife, whom she calls as “Avva” meaning Grandma in our mother tongue Telugu.

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