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The Hindu life cycle dictates that a man’s first 25 years should be devoted to learning; and that the next 25 years are for raising a family. The writer Ved Mehta has his own rather loose interpretation of that timeline.

He was born in Lahore in 1934, was through the halls of Oxford, had published his first book, and started a career writing for The New Yorker by the time he turned 25. But it would be another 25 years before he got down to the business of raising a family, though not for a lack of trying.

Mehta chronicles part of that journey in the tenth installment of his autobiographical, “Continents of Exile” series. It is a book about the nightmares of building a dream house on an enchanted island; a book about what a blind man sees that the sighted never will.

Guests:

Ved Mehta, author of “Dark Harbor: Building House and Home on an Enchanted Island”

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“The court has taken sides in a culture war.” That’s what Justice Antonin Scalia said after last week’s ruling that struck down sodomy laws in Texas and nationwide. The ruling has many declaring a definitive end to the culture wars, chalking up a smashing victory for the gay rights movement.

For some conservatives, it is recognition that using hellfire and brimstone to rail against a lifestyle that many Americans have come to accept may be the wrong way to go. For gay activists, it is a time to celebrate, to plot and plan next steps. While some think same sex marriage is the next frontier, others say most Americans are not ready to walk down that aisle and instead, gay activists should pick another fight, in the workplace for example.

So what’s next, are they going to the chapel? The future of gay rights in a divided America.

Guests:

E. J. Graff, author of What Is Marriage For? The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution

Jonah Goldberg is the editor at large of the web magazine National Review Online