• GETTING COWED DOWN

    This phrase means living in fear. There is also another phrase “getting bogged down”, which means getting stuck in a quagmire, from which it is impossible to extricate one’s self. This is what seems to have happened in Yogi Adityanath’s U.P., where I live. When he became the Chief Minister two years ago he boldly…

  • AYODHYA’S THREE WAY SPLIT

    The three judges gave three different verdicts. The majority decided to split the disputed site at Ayodhya 3 ways – two parts to the Hindus, and one to the Muslims. It seemed a win-win situation. The nation collectively heaved a sigh of relief. On Judgement Day, 30th September, a TV channel invited me to express…

  • THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

    (With specific reference to Stephen Hawking’s claims) Munnabhai was sipping his coffee in the lawn in front of his house. It was a moonless night, when the stars shone brightly in the firmament. It reminded him of an episode from the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Watson. The detective duo was camping out…

  • THE GEORGE I KNEW

    The gutsy fighter, the dynamite man of yesteryears, is no more, having just passed on with two fat ladies (tambola language) at 88. I first met George Bhai in July 1990, when he was the Railway Minister in the V.P. Singh cabinet. I had just been elected as the National President (NP) of the All…

  • THE CHILD IS.

    “The child is father of the man” is the seventh of the nine lines of the poem “My Heart Leaps Up” by William Wordsworth, written in 1802, when the poet was 32 years old. It is a line that has intrigued poets, philosophers and psychologists. I had never bothered about it, till a recent visit…

  • DISENTANGLING AYODHYA

    Knitting yarn is always in balls or skeins.  Leave the yarn untended and in no time it is knotted or entangled.  If you are not an old lady with yarn at the fireside, you could be a young lad who likes flying kites.  Here again the kite-string must be rolled on the latai, to prevent…

Latest Comments

  1. The term ‘Laity’ (Greek word) that means the common man, devoid of knowledge or power, still holds good today in…

  2. Your play on the words scribe, scribble, scrabble and scramble is very apt and has neatly traced the route to…

  3. Thank you for this insightful piece. Your parallel between the biblical scribes and modern bureaucracies hits the nail on the…

  4. Quantum of sorrow appropriate title Just thinking of the trauma those Altar boys r going through