Shunya

SHUNYA, a labor of love and folly, went online in Feb 2000. It hosts photos by Namit Arora, and writing by him and Usha Alexander . NAMIT ARORA grew up in Gwalior , famous for its fort and the first epigraphic evidence of zero . After IIT Kharagpur and a masters in computer engineering from Louisiana, he played a cog in the wheel of Internet techno... logy for two decades, inside many failed startups and large corporations in Silicon Valley. Its unclear if this made him wise but it did enable him to attend lectures of dubious practical value at Stanford and to live, work, or travel in scores of countries, with yearlong stints in London and Amsterdam. He quit this profession in 2013 and returned to India. For two years, he volunteered with the Delhi government to find innovative solutions to civic problems; he led the drafting of Delhi's solar energy policy and a task force on air pollution . Namit's writing has appeared in venues like 3 Quarks Daily , The Humanist, Philosophy Now, The TLS , The Baffler, The Caravan, The Philosopher , Himal Southasian , Kyoto Journal, The Wire, Outlook India, and five anthologies. He won the 3QD Arts & Literature Prize in 2011. During a two-year break (200406), Namit traveled across India and created a photojournal . Over 15 museums, 30 academies, and 50 publishers have licensed his photos. His videography includes River of Faith , a film on the Kumbh Mela. He spoke at Nirmukta Thinkfest and TEDx Gurugram . He is the author of The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities , a collection of essays, and the novel A California Story (US) / Love and Loathing in Silicon Valley (India). His new book on travel and cultural history, The Land beyond the Sindhu: Journeys through Early India, is forthcoming from Penguin Random House India (release date TBD). Namit's photos have been licensed by museums, academia, media, publishing, governments, individuals, NGOs, and others. If you too wish to use his copyrighted photos, please email to negotiate a sensible fee, file format, and ...Read More