Interview with the AICTE Chairman Mr Anil D Sahasrabudhe
When Frank Gehry talked about architecture speaking of its time and place, but yearning for timelessness, he couldn’t possibly have visited the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) building on Nelson Mandela Marg in New Delhi. Timelessness has been the essence of whatever decisions have emerged from the offices here where natural light and...
Technology is a double shot of espresso
I’ve always believed that technology dances with the spirit of life… and I did not use the word humanity because from cellular agriculture and medicine to entertainment and information, from the ethics of politics and the economics of infrastructure, and even from the sweat and blood of relationships to the heat and dust of yearnings...
Is the NEP about old mind-sets in new bodies?
Some thinkers believe that reports and recommendations invariably remain what they are if unaccompanied by the micro-details of strategic implementation maneuvers. A bit higher in the hierarchy of proposed actions and actionable steps is the wave theory of political will of the powers, the calculus of economic certainties and uncertainties, the gravitational laws pervading in...
The distance between a problem and a solution
There is no problem without a solution lurking somewhere. It is just that we need to focus and discover it. However, between a problem and its solution is a completely wild world of desperation, stress, and feelings of incompatibility that can be exceedingly harmful. This distance between a problem and its solution has the power...
As I think about the environment
All around me Are writers and speakers Tearing words apart Pairing them Ordering them Mostly running after them Without knowing why Without understanding The truth inside the world of words. Users of words Remain under duress In a somewhat vocal way. Every word Lives multiple lives Not getting stressed at all And carries inside itself...
Rip Van Winkle calls himself Z1Pro
‘Rip Van Winkle in 2019?’ exclaimed a friend, ‘but isn’t he a character in a story published in America in 1819?’ Yes, we all know how Rip Van Winkle falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains only to wake up two decades later. The American Revolution was over by then and he is obviously unfamiliar with...
Learning, age, and a bar
If some readers are wondering why I decided to let the title have ‘a bar’ in it, the reason is simple. I have always believed that getting into sticky situations is an addiction for humans. I mean, we cannot live without bumbling and stumbling into one ever so often. Quite obviously then, finding a way...
Condensed milk, rooh-afza, and water from a mountain stream
It was at an art exhibition that I realized what hunger could mean. The walls were a pale ivory, the lights were sufficient and diffused, and the art panels were all in innumerable hues of black and grey. There was no one around when I entered and coming in after driving through the colour dense...
I still love my Parker Frontier
Last week I sat at a press event and was busy writing probable questions with my Parker Frontier fountain pen in my black Moleskine notebook when a twenty-something YouTuber whispered in my right ear, ‘Is that an ink pen?’ ‘Yes, it is,’ I said and looked up towards him. He said nothing but his expression...
Cricket and laughter go together in India
Cricket and laughter co-exist… at least sometimes. Yes, we have seen the famous yawn behind the wickets in CWC 2019 and Sarfaraz was trolled like mad for days. The televised matches make sure that every yawning gap between a ball rushing towards the boundary and a fielder diving valiantly to miss it by millimeters, the...
Technology is a double shot of espresso
I’ve always believed that technology dances with the spirit of life… and I did not use the word humanity because from agriculture and medicine to entertainment and information, from the ethics of politics and the economics of infrastructure, and even from the sweat and blood of relationships to the heat and dust of yearnings it...
Calling teachers “untalented leftovers” doesn’t tell the complete story
With the NEP 2019 zipping and zooming from one stage to another and its interpretations getting into every kind of conversation taking place anywhere, the focus is bound to be on teachers… and students, of course. Everyone wants teachers to get better. There is a lot of talk about doing away with sub-standard teacher training...
