Paanwalas and writers
Writers love transforming even plain words into metaphors that threaten to tell the truth as it really is. This breed loves staring boldly (well, sometimes meekly) into a blank sheet of paper until ideas are forced to get in line and begin marching to the tune that they whistle or hum or sing… or just...
Auroville enlightens!
If you can imagine a 20 sq km area transforming from a barren expanse of red sand and sparse vegetation into a haven of creative thought, divine consciousness, and sustainable living in a few decades, you have successfully imagined Auroville. This township in TamilNadu was created for the sole purpose of realizing human unity. When...
Good management seeks stable but simple solutions
Problems remain problems until someone insists on a solution. So yes, every solution does begin its life as something that appears insignificant and most of us could be tempted to discard pursuing it as useless, intimidatory, and a drain on time and resources. But there will invariably be one individual, quite probably a visionary in...
Abracadabra… education is a magical spell!
There is a relationship between education and magic. For instance, don’t you think creative thinking is more like the mind always up to some conjuring tricks? Or that what we call information is more like a portal that transports us from one plane to another? Jargon or the language understood by a small community of...
The writer’s mind conceiving a character
Undefined. Rebellious. Naughty. Machiavellian. Purposeful. Powerful. Kerfuffle. Paracosm. And sometimes a heady mix of all of these and more. This is how a character begins a journey in a writer’s mind and may stay on unchanged from being flexible enough to be a truth adsorbent and willing to change with the kind of experiences it...
A bit of yoga with lots of storytelling
We live in a world with 300 million traumatized by depression and nearly 250 million fighting their daily battle with anxiety disorders. This is one of the reasons why people have started taking the highest concentration of CBD, as people want to feel less stressed every day, redirect to DigiDrs if you think cbd will...
Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!
Don’t stop yourself from reading this post. Don’t hold yourself back from writing a comment or sharing this article with friends. Pick up quotes but don’t forget to give credit to the writer. There is a ‘don’t’ populating each of these sentences and yet the word has a comforting purr surrounding it. Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!...
Turning the other cheek for another slap
If Gandhi-ism is about turning the other cheek for another slap, I am sure the fundamentalists, the terrorists, the arsonists, the agitators, the rioters, the criminals, and even the hooligans and violators are going to smile and wish every law enforcement personnel steps out in white dhotis and a few mild words every time they...
The NSEW of education
Education is a word that has many deep layers that not everyone understands. The word ‘education’ includes other concepts like ‘inspirational’ and ‘useful’ besides basic literacy and numeracy. Yes, education shoots up the earnings-premium of a person and one reports puts this figure at 70 percent when compared to those who do have an education...
The idiot’s guide to shirking
The latest issue of The New Yorker has a toon with this caption: “Listen, when you give up, you can do anything!” This one is obviously a lampoon aimed to shame the shirker, the shammer, or the one who whines and avoids any responsibility. Such people are everywhere. I was one of this tribe once...
A story called Irrfan
A story called Irrfan.A story within a storySurprising layers andLayered surprises,A balance betweenHollywood and Bollywood,Engaging emotions andEmpathizing with intellects.A story resisting tagsThat prop reality onAlchemized happinessYet entertaining peopleIn ways that demand attention.A story that went aroundWith a heart of poetry,Reached out, spread withinAnd swept across borders.The final word to this storyHas found its way intoOther...
Dark times are fine
Dark times are fine.Dark times with their dark talesOf people blinded by thoughtsNumbed by verbose wailsCreate unscalable wallsEverywhere. Yet a part of me believesIt is night only for a whileAnd when the night leavesDawn cannot be farFrom anywhere.I believe nights aren’t badBecause they embrace deathTo be reborn as hope…How else will there be a new...
