O. Henry’s famous short story “The Cop and the Anthem” features Soapy, a homeless man who spends his New York winter in a low security prison by committing a petty crime, getting arrested and being sentenced for 3 months of the peak winter. His bed and board and heating were taken care of and, since
I’ve just discovered that my passport has expired, but after much deliberation I’ve decided not to renew it. I already have more ” citizenship” documents than I can handle in my advancing years- Aadhar card, EPIC, Domicile certificate, Driving licence, CGHS card, I.D. card, CSOI card, PAN card, Pension Life Certificate- and most of them
THE PASSPORT DILEMMA Read More »
To be inspired is to be filled and led by something beyond the self. It is to let something higher, something from beyond, into oneself to be continually guided, enabled and shaped by it. We can exist by ourselves, but we cannot be fully and vitally alive by ourselves. No man, as an English poet
Swami Agnivesh: An Inspired Life Read More »
I have always believed that the houses we build for ourselves have anthropomorphic qualities, that they are as much part of our families as any other member, that they also share our feelings and emotions, that they reflect our own states of mind, that they too have their own destinies just as we do, destinies
OUR HOUSES ARE LIVING ENTITIES TOO – A TALE OF TWO HOUSES Read More »
October is the month we remember Mahatma Gandhi as his birth anniversary is on October 2nd. The UN also observes the day as the day as the International Day of Non-Violence While I have a lot of admiration for Mahatma Gandhi, there is a man I respect possibly even more. He is popularly known as
Himsa and Ahimsa – Does Non-Violence Have a Future? Read More »
The recent story of Pen Farthing made me think and ask an uncomfortable question. Now you may be asking just who exactly is Pen Farthing. He is a former British Marine , who after his stint was over, started a charity. The charity was based out of Afghanistan which by itself is not a bad
Animal Rights or Human Rights? Read More »
In the 2014 and 2019 elections every dimension of the news and social media was completely dominated by the BJP. The so-called mainstream print and television sector had already been or more or less bought out or intimidated into a hallelujah mode. As for Facebook and its subsidiaries Whatsapp and Instagram, one has only to
THE ALTERNATE SOCIAL MEDIA IS RESTORING THE BALANCE OF NEWS Read More »
The vast majority of us ( and I include myself in this list ) are completely unaware of the role that sound – and silence – plays in our lives and mental well being. I was made aware of this recently by a BBC documentary about an App developed by some whizz kid in response
LISTEN TO THE SILENCE – IT HAS THE ANSWERS Read More »
A bureaucrat is like a bottle of medicine: he comes with an expiry date. He knows, right from his first day in office, the exact day and year on which he has to hang up his boots, and yet most of them are caught unprepared on the appointed day, scrambling to adjust to the changed
EXPIRY DATES , FUSED BULBS AND THE GHOSTS OF RETIREMENT. Read More »
