This title could mean two things (double entendre). Firstly, as in a race, it could mean that one was off the mark in a flash, as the starter called out, “On your marks, get set, go”. Secondly it could mean that one had gone off track or missed the mark. I mean both things –…

While writing about the Republic Day Parade (RDP) last year I said that I missed the rich timbered voice of Rini Simon-Khanna.  I had also hazarded a guess that this year the Chief Guest would be the Emir of Kuwait .  After watching this year’s RDP I got fiendish pleasure in being spot on last…

The Uncertainty Principle is no longer limited to physics and quantum mechanics. It seems to have pervaded all of human existence; be it personal relationships, politics or the environment. There are three events in a person’s life that are poetically referred to as hatches (birth), matches (marriage) and despatches (death). It is natural to feel…

White Europeans dream of a White Christmas, as the old Christmas carol goes, with snow all around, to give them that Christmassy feeling. The same Europeans who have migrated to Australia in the southern hemisphere, where it is summer at Christmas time, reportedly create artificial snow, or use cotton wool to get the Christmas “effect”!…

We know the old adage that two wrongs do not make a right. We may also remember the three R’s –reading, riting and rithmetic. My three Rights are different, and not to be confused with the three Rites that have become the bane of the Catholic Church in India. The three Rights that I am…

(Based on a presentation at a public meeting organised by the All India Catholic Union at Mangalore on 26th November 2016) The topic that I have been asked to speak on is “Freedom of Religion in India – with special reference to the Christian community”. Let me begin with a rather audacious question. Do we…