·Economy, Policy & Society
12 Places That Helped Shape Post-Independence India
They tell the story of modern India’s evolution
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Founding Fuel
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Featured
FF LifeBest of FF Life 2025
Personal essays on work, learning, and the inner life.
11 Articles
161 min read
Updated 15/3/2026
Editor's Note
This Collection brings together a selection of FF Life’s most enduring stories from 2025—pieces meant to be returned to, not rushed through. These are essays that invite lingering: with ideas, with places, and with moments that resist easy summary.
Across these stories, writers reflect on the places that shape us, the relationships we underestimate, the technologies we misunderstand, and the choices we postpone until they demand reckoning. The writing looks sideways rather than straight ahead, attentive to texture, contradiction, and what often sits just outside the frame.
Read together, these pieces reflect what FF Life does best. They slow us down. They prize attention over answers. And they remind us that meaning is often found not in resolution, but in how carefully we learn to notice.
(This Collection reflects our editorial judgment at a point in time. We revisit and refine it as our thinking evolves.)
Featured
·FF Life
On the Edge: Urgent Stories Our Wild Places Tell—A Tribute to Ramki
In memory of a friend, mentor, and conservationist, we present the 2025 Ramki Sreenivasan Conservation Photography Award—images that reveal the startling, intimate, and often uncomfortable ways in which human lives now intersect with the wild
NR
N S Ramnath
Senior Editor
·FF Life
How my family health crisis forced me to rethink the value of insurance
The rising incidence of critical illnesses and the growing cost of hospitalisation hangs like a Damocles sword over us. My personal journey of how to deal with growing health risks, smartly buy health insurance—and save my family from financial ruin
DP
Deven Pabaru
A leader in supply chain and logistics
·Economy, Policy & Society
We, the People of India
Stories of the making of our Constitution
VS
Vinita Gursahani Singh
Founder
·FF Life
FF Life: Beyond the Gate of Conquest
Ramzaan at the Saifee Masjid Complex, in South Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar: In the heart of chaos, an ode to modernity that embraces the Dawoodi Bohra community's heritage and aspirations
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director
·FF Life
Reconnecting with the outdoors
The joy of being in nature and a journey of discovery—of a world outside and within. Plus 5 of my favourite places to experience Earth’s remarkable landscape
AN
Ashok Nair
Coach, wildlife photographer
·FF Life
In the Heart of the Serengeti
A journey through Tanzania’s landscapes, wildlife, and the drama of the migration
SV
Shrinath V
Founder, The Salient Advisory
·FF Life
Where GPS Fails, the Brotherhood Begins
They don’t work for Google. But they’re the brotherhood you’ll want when the road disappears
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director
·Artificial Intelligence
AI’s Best-Kept Secret: It’s Not the Tools, It’s You
In a world brimming with AI possibilities, it’s easy to get lost in the hype. But the magic is not in the perfect tools, it’s in using them thoughtfully. Whether you’re a beginner or already well-versed, the key is to start simple and experiment boldly. Like learning to ride a bike, the more you engage, the more natural it will feel. Here’s how I am learning
AS
Anmol Shrivastava
Entrepreneur, strategist, and technology consultant
·FF Life
What Quiet Men Teach Us About Love
How men learn—and unlearn—the language of emotion
CA
Charles Assisi
Co-founder and Director
·FF Life
Who Gets to Decide What Happens at the End of Your Life?
Living wills remain on the fringes, but they are forcing India to confront family power, cultural taboo, and the realities of end-of-life care—signalling a profound shift in how the country thinks about dignity and medical decision-making
SB
Sveta Basraon
Editor and Head of Operations