The story of NEP 2020 is ready to change mindsets
National education Policy 2020 is now a story where the plot has already been decided, the theme is clear, and even the pace at which incidents will happen and weave a form has been given a format. The NEP2020 isn’t any more in the ideation stage but will soon have words and sentences falling in...
No one takes my brinjals! – Review of a thriller
One doesn’t often get to read a thriller written by an Indian author where intrigue, suspense, murder, kidnapping, and even a chase runs for a long distance with guffaws, smirks, laughter, and even satire to keep company. Now, if the title of this review intrigues you, let me just add that I’m not talking about...
Water – small steps, big results
Frankly, one doesn’t need to be a management consultant or some celebrity journalist writing a column in a national daily or having a show during prime time on a leading TV channel or even be a bureaucrat or a politician tweaking legislations to be a water warrior. Small steps matter. SSM or Small Steps Matter...
Water isn’t just about water
Water is scarce because we are careless, casual, and callous with the way we treat everything related to water. Let me give you three examples. With every road layering or repairing exercise, the level goes up a few millimeters and after some years the little drain holes that had been carefully constructed on the sides...
Save water before it is too late
The switch box of humans, it appears, has been severely tampered with and as a result no one seems to understand things when put in a simple straight-forward language. Try calling terrorism bad and chances are you might end up being trolled for being an Islamophobe. Comment on why banning Chinese apps is a part...
This grandmother knows her kitchen well
‘Gunpowder for you,’ she said. I thanked her and wondered for a moment if it was the exploding sort. Harjeet Kaur possibly read my mind and laughed as she said, ‘Yes, quite explosive for the taste-buds.’ We were in Mahabalipuram then and soon got busy exploring the cultural history of the place. Harjeet Kaur, also...
The truth about pain
Who says life’s lessons are learnt from pain? You might have read the story of Uncle Podger who wanted to hang a picture. I was in some junior class and this story by Jerome K Jerome was a part of our English reader. Uncle Podger keeps hitting his thumb or finger and even as the...
Ram Bahadur and Oli
The soul of Ravan chuckled and didn’t quite LoL-ed or ROFL-ed because he wasn’t updated about the new internet lingo going around in the human world. He turned to Ram and guffawed, ‘Never seen you with a khukri, sir… ever!’ ‘What?’ replied Ram, ‘I didn’t quite get you. I mean, I know you are quite...
Unforgettable tales by Ruskin Bond
The first time that the name Ruskin Bond mysteriously entered my psyche was not when I first read his book, but during a discussion with my home tutor a while after I must have read one of his first publications. This happened sometime before my ICSE exams and in the early seventies. Rai Sahib, as...
Villainy is dead
Headings matter and I do not want the title of this piece to be ‘Vikas is dead’ because then the ruling party spokespersons and their economists are going to be really perplexed. But then headings, like the names of gangsters, always make an impact… and even Bollywood has convinced me that it is looks and...
When readers imagine what happened in a story
Review of ‘Shadow of the past’ by Mayank Manohar. Let me say at the start that Mayank, the author, has everything in place for him… a tale that relates to lot of people, experience of writing short and long pieces, and the courage to move a perfectly fine idea into a novel. He was probably...
Fair, white, and light
We know now that the word ‘fair’ has been eased out of brand promotion for a certain product and that Sunny Jain, president of Unilever Beauty Division has even gone on record to announce that the company recognizes ‘that the use of the words fair, white, and light suggest a singular ideal of beauty that...
