Woman – a thunderstorm with a touch of lightening
Women in India have a voice that is heard all over the world. Not that their silence went unheard because it was that deathly quiet that has probably given birth to movements like ‘beti bachhao, beti padhao’ and slogans like ‘Equal rights are not special rights‘, ‘Woman is the companion of man’, ‘Gifted with equal...
Newspaper headlines are not slogans for politicians
I still read newspapers. They educate, inform, and give a direction to the views that I hold. It is newspapers that print stuff that someone somewhere may never want to read in print. It is also the responsibility of newspapers to make sure that they do not filter out the unsavory facts that the powerful...
Stone cliffs, silk, and bloody tales of Chanderi
Many travel enthusiasts know of Chanderi cloth but may not be aware that 1 km of silk used in this 20 to 22 DN fabric weighs just 1.5 gm and that 190 gm is the general weight of a sari. Chanderi isn’t just about hand-woven silk cotton and pure silk extracted from the roots of...
Your degree is never enough
Most of us believe that education is getting hold of a degree in one or the other field and that any reading that extends beyond relevant textbooks is something that is just another pastime. It isn’t. Real education, let me add here, happens through well-written books. Even Dr Seuss tells us that ‘the more that...
Thoughts as 2020 comes to an end
What does one say to an year that has made a lot of effort to remain at top of the unpopularity charts? Obviously, a big thank you… because trying times, tough moments, and all the wrongs ever inflicted on us by time invariably metamorphose into happy looking steppingstones that help us go across a struggling...
Travel, Music, and Technology
Travel changes you. So does music. I have always believed that a trek in the mountains is jazz for the nerves, a dip in the sea is pop for the mind, and steps into the diverse cultures of the world are the ragas that connect life with creative thoughts. And if you aren’t already aware,...
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...
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...
Orchha on river Betwa
Water connects people, architecture, religion, mythology, and society to each other in many ways… and this happens not just in India but the world over. Water carries with it hundreds of stories of existence, survival, traditions, rituals, and explanations for that which remains unexplained so far just as easily as it brings to the border...
