Avay Shukla

Now that the manufactured frenzy of Independence Day is over ( as if India has never celebrated 15th August before), I am happy to report that it is now apple plucking time in Puranikoti. I have a few apple trees on my land and look after them assiduously: I keep pumping in money for their […]

I am not aware whether Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Lewis Carrol ever collaborated on a book or not, but had they wanted to, the India of today would have been the perfect subject for them. For it contains elements of  the sinister,  the malevolent and the ridiculous that would have fascinated them. It contains

About four years ago, in an effort to renovate my perennial dumb image, I bought a middle range smart phone. My image has improved marginally since then, but the phone battery is now giving way: it never charges more than 50%, and so I have to charge it at least three times a day, even

I don’t usually watch video forwards on Whatsapp lest I get FIRed by some cop in Hathras, but last week I did view two, and I’m so glad I did. The first was a short speech in his Parliament by the Prime Minister of Singapore in which he succinctly explained how elections even in democracies

Animals continue to contribute immensely to Indian politics ( and here I am not referring to the herds which congregate in resorts before a vote, or rush into the well of the House to drink deep of the Pyrean spring). I refer to the genuine, self respecting quadrupeds who are increasingly turning the country into

If there is one quality Indians cannot be accused of, it is the ability to be sensitive- to the feelings of others, to the environment, to civic decencies, to social mores. One has only to look at their behaviour in public places or even a familial setting, to realise how true this statement is, unpalatable

This is the century of Private Capital. While governments involve themselves in waging wars and making life as difficult as possible for their citizens, it is the private sector that is pushing forward the frontiers of economic development and spawning the innovations that will make life sustainable in the years to come. It is  private

I don’t like, or trust, coincidences and believe there is no such thing as a coincidence if something happens again and again.. In fact, I’m one with the Japanese cartoonist Osama Tezuka when he says:  “Coincidence doesn’t happen a third time.” This thought is clarified even further by Ian Fleming: ” Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three

Friday, 24 June 2022 I belong to the 1950 batch of homo sapiens, and wasn’t singled out for any special favours by the Creator when He was dishing out His divine gifts. So, as you can guess, I’m a pretty average Joe – average intelligence, average physique, average health, average abilities and skills; this last