Category: Uncategorized

This is not a cleverly googled piece on the evolution of Christmas trees, cards and Santa Claus. It is about how my own Christmases have evolved over the past 62 years of my existence. I am telling it as it was. My childhood in Kanpur was a privileged one, as was Christmas then. At the…

With his boyish looks, dimpled cheeks and darting eyes, he looks a cool customer that belies his 55 years. Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Varanasi diocese was transferred to the hot seat of Allahabad, and installed as its bishop on 3rd December, the feast of St Francis Xavier, as also World Disabled Day! The significance should…

Graft, or bribery, has been India’s bane. The graft that I am writing about is a boon to India’s suffering millions. It is called allograft, and its pioneer in India is Dr Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, the Head of the Tissue Bank at the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), Mumbai. Simply put, allograft is a process by…

“None of the Above” (NOTA) seems to be the flavour of the season; with jurists, activists and analysts all jumping on to the NOTA bandwagon. They would have us believe, as the jingle for a mobile phone company goes, “What an idea sirji”. But does this really ring true in the body politic? I have…

Recently I received an email from a close family friend, now in his eighties, whom I have held in great esteem. The said email is reproduced below, ad verbatim. It necessitates a point-by-point rebuttal, which follows the original text that is in italics. Why India needs Modi to remain a secular state? Over 80% percent…

We were sitting around the wooden bench that served as our dining table.  The room was an all-weather one – hot in summer, cold in winter, and water everywhere during the rains; and sipping our jaggery tea (sugar too expensive) from enamel tin mugs.  Outside was thick bamboo, after which Bans (bamboo) Bareilly is named. …

It is in no way embarrassing for me to state that when I got married, my wife and I moved around on cycles.  It was later that I obtained a moped, a motorcycle and then a second hand car.  Now that I am a senior citizen, I still cycle 5 kms in the mornings on…

This article is occasioned by a rather innocuous request from my brother-in-law, Louis, in Australia. He wanted somebody to throw light on the Gospel reading of Sunday the 18th August. The “offending text” is from Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 12, verses 49-53. This text may sound downright offensive to family people;, where Jesus says that he…

The chances are that you have not heard of Datta Phuge of Pune. His claim to fame is that he struts around wearing 6.5 kgs of gold ornaments. Recently he got a shirt stitched for himself which is embellished with a further 3.5 kgs of gold. So with his shirt on his back he packs…

When I was in my teens I was fond of hunting, and even came 5th in the Trap Shooting event in the U.P. State Shooting Championships. In winter we often sailed down the Ganga hunting wild geese sunning themselves on the sandbars midstream. Drifting downstream was easy, but to go against the current was a…