Chapter II
Welcome to the second chapter of our Commentaries series. This is a journal series anyone can contribute to. August's chapter gathers sixteen reflections.
August explored many topics including Rome's connection to Romania, Oppenheimer's borrowed words from the Bhagavad Gita and a tribute to both Freddie Mercury and Dolly Parton.
This month, two people wrote in with cultures they carry themselves: Saira on food as a connector of her Bengali, Indian and British heritage and Ithiel on how Afro-Caribbean culture shapes the way the same Gospel is experienced.
The door remains open and we intend to keep it that way.
After all, this is why culture matters.
3 August 2026 — Romania: Rome’s Living Legacy
Across Europe, many nations have claimed descent from Ancient Rome. Romania simply is. After Trajan’s conquest of Dacia in 106 AD, Roman settlers arrived and Latin served as a primary language. Through centuries of Slavic, Ottoman and Habsburg pressure, that language remained and evolved into what we know as Romanian. Romanian remains the only Eastern Romance language to have become a national language, spoken a thousand miles from Rome.
3 August 2026 — Food for Thought
Bridging Bangladeshi, Indian, and British identities, my culture finds its truest voice in our language and food. Food is universal — it breaks boundaries and introduces who we are to anyone. Sharing hearty, home-cooked meals with colleagues at work or neighbours over school holidays isn't just hospitality; it builds deep, lifelong relationships through simple comfort.
Words of Saira, a British person of Bengali and Indian ancestry
4 August 2026 — Culture: a melting pot or a mosaic?
The melting pot asks smaller cultures to dissolve into a larger one. A mosaic asks them to sit together and remain themselves. Can multiple cultures live simultaneously and in harmony? Or is there an ultimate and unified culture that supersedes all of them? Which of these questions, if answered with a yes, will bring us closer to a universal cultural acceptance?
5 August 2026 — Marvelling at Marble and Muscle
Before Eugen Sandow established bodybuilding as a sport at the turn of the 20th Century, it was an art built on the statues from antiquity to the Renaissance. These creations relied on both mythos and mathematics to build the superhuman in marble. This is why, fittingly, Mr Universe Steve Reeves had to make bodybuilding mainstream through his portrayal of the Roman demigod Hercules. This serves as a full circle cultural moment.
6 August 2026 — “I am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”
To the uninitiated, these words serve as the regretful utterances of Dr Robert Oppenheimer, as he watched the first atomic detonation at the Trinity test in July 1945. To the initiated, these are the paraphrased words of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, spoken in his revealed form as Vishnu (one third of the Hindu trinity). This commentary is less of a comparison of how scientists can be seen as gods by other mere mortals. More of a cultural connection that indeed religion and science are more connected than we would like to acknowledge.
10 August 2026 — War and Peace
The Philippine flag has a feature no other state has. During peacetime, the blue band sits on top. In a war, against another state, it is flown upside down with the red part above the blue. This law was adopted alongside the introduction of the flag in 1898. The inverted flag was last officially flown during Japan’s invasion in World War II. If there was an internet blackout for a prolonged period, the people of the Philippines would instantly know whether there was a war. How many other countries could adapt with such simple efficiency?
11 August 2026 — The Beautiful Era
Also known as “La Belle Époque”, France (from 1871 to 1914) experienced a period of innovation and discovery. While this was underwritten by French colonialism, there can be no dispute that France used its defeat to Prussia to grow. This era brought cabaret, cinema and the Eiffel Tower. This calm masked the growing storm of World War I.
14 August 2026 — The Church of the Afro-Caribbean
For me, Christianity is deeply personal and rooted in Christ, but I’ve realised that the way I experience and express my faith is heavily influenced by culture. Coming from an Afro-Caribbean background, many of the churches I’ve grown up around reflect that culture through energetic preaching, rhythmic gospel music, and a dynamic exchange where the preacher may say something in the flow of the sermon that naturally invokes a response from the congregation.
Church can feel like more than worship, it can be a place of emotional release, collective healing, and resilience, where testimonies and shared experiences create a strong sense of community. In churches less influenced by Afro-Caribbean culture, worship can feel more restrained, particularly in its music and preaching style. Neither is more Christian; they simply show how culture shapes the way we experience and express the same Gospel.
Words of Ithiel, a British person of Afro-Caribbean ancestry
18 August 2026 — Prayer and Movement
Physical movement serves as a bridge to the divine. From the prostrations of Hindu sashtanga pranama to those maintained within Islam and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the body has historically been an active instrument of devotion. These traditions grew independently of one another (in the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian peninsula, the Ethiopian highlands, etc). Yet they arrived at what appears to be the same conclusion… prayer without movement feels hollow.
This convergence suggests something profound: perhaps physical movement in prayer isn’t merely symbolic, but an innate human reflex when connecting to the divine. Could this be a tenet of spiritual culture that can connect a Hindu to a Christian to a Jew to a Sikh, etc? Does true devotion to the divine invite physical action alongside the mental, emotional and spiritual states?
19 August 2026 — Coffee: Human Fuel
Every morning, millions of people begin their day with the same ritual. Before the emails, meetings and commutes comes a cup of coffee.
For many, it is the fuel of modern work. Yet few stop to consider where it came from. Arabica coffee traces its origins to the Kaffa region of Ethiopia. Legend speaks of shepherds who noticed their goats becoming unusually energetic after eating coffee beans. Curious, these shepherds tried the beans for themselves and found they too felt energised.
Once condemned in some circles as the devil's drink, coffee eventually became one of the world's most popular beverages thanks in part to kings and sultans.
Today, entire economies run on a habit that began with a discovery in Ethiopia. Every rush hour is touched by what we have inherited from these ancient shepherds.
This is why culture matters.
20 August 2026 — The Message: A Golden Piece of Hip Hop
Hip hop gave listeners a window into lives and experiences beyond their own. Through vivid lyricism, the reworking of Black music and social commentary, the genre became a voice for communities often overlooked. Few records capture this better than The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Set against the backdrop of the South Bronx, the song follows the pressures of poverty, instability and survival while striving to remain mentally resilient. Its portrayal of life at the margins of society resonated with many listeners and helped establish hip hop as a storytelling tool.
More than forty years later, the record remains relevant because it speaks to enduring human struggles and serves as a timeless piece in music.
This is why culture matters.
24 August 2026 — The Colonialist War
For many Europeans, the First World War is remembered as the war to end all wars. Yet for much of Africa and Asia, the end of the conflict changed very little.
It was a colonialist war fought by colonial subjects. Over a million Indian troops served overseas. The tirailleurs sénégalais fought in France. In East Africa, hundreds of thousands of African porters were conscripted into the Carrier Corps. A vast number of these subjects died of disease and hunger, carrying a war they had no part in starting. They also had to contend with the racism and discrimination of the time.
When the war ended, German colonies such as Tanganyika and Kamerun (now part of Tanzania and Cameroon, respectively) were transferred to the victorious powers as mandates. Many European peoples emerged from the war with states of their own. India and the African colonies were granted no such thing. Nobody asked them. Why would they?
Remembering this does not diminish the sacrifice of veterans. It simply broadens our understanding of who experienced the war, who truly benefited and how its legacy was felt around the world.
This is why culture matters.
25 August 2026 — Formerly Known as Farrokh Bulsara
Of all the Asian British artists who found success in music, there is one who transcended his ancestry and rightly deserves his place in the pantheon of British music.
Born in Zanzibar to parents of Gujarati Parsi heritage, he sang songs about “privy councillors” and wove sacred words such as “Bismillah” into rock music. He delivered public anthems to tens of thousands, most famously at Live Aid in 1985. There is even an Oscar-winning film based on his life.
This man, for those who may not know, is Freddie Mercury.
He changed the landscape of rock music and gave new prestige and regality to the word Queen.
Thank you, Freddie Mercury, formerly known as Farrokh Bulsara.
26 August 2026 — Tribute to Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton died on 25 August 2026, at eighty. History will remember one of the most successful country music artists of all time and a woman who stood powerfully in a male-dominated industry. Yet her legacy extends far beyond music. It extends to the culture around her.
Many people saw a country singer from Appalachia and assumed they understood who she was. What those people missed was a woman who supported the LGBT community consistently, for decades, in an industry where it would have cost most of her contemporaries their careers. She did it anyway.
When the song she wrote, I Will Always Love You, became a global hit through Whitney Houston, Dolly reportedly used part of the proceeds to buy an office complex in a predominantly Black neighbourhood of Nashville, Tennessee. She bought it in 1997, when others in the industry were avoiding the area. She called it the house that Whitney built.
She was more than the hair and the rhinestones (an image she built for herself). Behind it sat a mind, a conscience and a soul most people never bothered to look for. That is why we remember her and the cultural impact she had.
Rest in Peace, Dolly Parton.
27 August 2026 — British Airways: The Mirage of British Prestige
British Airways was once a flagship for the prestige of Britannia. Today, it feels like a mirror reflecting national stagnation.
Persistent delays, communication breakdowns and the systematic erosion of basic service mirror a broader institutional malaise. How did we arrive here? The answer isn't found in convenient scapegoats. It stems from something quieter and more damaging: institutional complacency. A fundamental lack of care disguised as tradition, relying on the fading momentum of past glory. The playbook Brexit Britain relies on.
If culture teaches us anything, it is that prestige is not just an inheritance, but an element that needs to be built, edified and fortified. Living off yesterday’s reputation without continuous refinement is how legacy brands and nations drift into obsolescence. The parallel between BA’s decline and Britain’s current trajectory isn't just valid; it is a warning.
31 August 2026 — Notting Hill: A Carnival Celebration
In London, we witness one of the biggest events in Afro-Caribbean culture. Notting Hill’s Carnival is the marquee event where people from all around the world can listen, feel and embrace Afro-Caribbean heritage. For around sixty years this event has been celebrated. It is a vibrant event celebrating culture, community and connection.