Category: Uncategorized

Last month the mulberry tree in our garden was laden with blossoms. It did not excite me, because I did not expect to get any fruit from it! Because the bats and birds would devour all the fruit before we got to see any, as had happened the previous year. We also have pomegranate and…

After “Lagaan” and “Taare Zameen Par”, Aamir Khan has done it again with “3 Idiots”. He has established himself as the most versatile contemporary actor. His latest blockbuster premiered on Christmas day, and some idiot raised a hullabaloo calling it an insult to Jesus. That idiot had obviously not seen the movie. Having just seen…

Father Josef Neuner SJ passed away in early December in Pune, at the grand age of 101. I did not grieve his death, because for a holy man like him, death is but another step forward in the journey of life. Normally the number 101 is associated with the book/ movie “101 Dalmatians”. Dalmatians are…

“Oh when the saints go marching in … Good Lord I want to be in that number.” An old song, an even older human aspiration; the desire to get to heaven, to attain nirvana, moksha, jannat, eternal life and bliss. To be counted among the saints. There are also countless jokes about St. Peter and…

Press the panic button.  2012 is not far away.  The world is going to end on the 21st of December 2012.  So says the Mayan calendar of South America.  You may have heard of the ancient Inca and Mayan civilizations.  But Hollywood’s latest blockbuster “2012” has made the Mayan calendar a household word.  What should…

“The Da Vinci Code” is back in the news because its author, Dan Brown, has come out with another bestseller, “The Lost Symbol”. This time he attempts to de-code the secrets of the Freemasons. His earlier work was a cunning mix of fact and fiction, in his botched attempt to de-mythologize Christianity. A Code can…

For all you guys with extra libido, here’s a dampener. If you are having an affair with your neighbour’s wife, you could end up with 5 years in jail, even if it is a consensual sexual relationship. There is a rider though. If your neighbour has no objection to such a relationship with his wife,…

When I first read Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar’s piece “The Pope’s moral blunders on outsourcing” (STOI 2/8/09) I was furious with the Pope for blundering into an area that is not his core competence – economics. I was inclined to believe Aiyar’s opening line that religion and business rarely mix well. I belong to a…

The Delhi High Court judgement on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has opened up a Pandora’s Box of variegated opinions.  The advocates of “gay pride”, a term of their own choice, are obviously gaga.  The Central Government seems to be in a Catch 22 situation, not knowing whether to say yes or…

Almost everybody from Swami Ramdev and Lalu Prasad Yadav, to assorted Muslim clerics, and Catholic spokesperson Rev Dominic Emanuel SVD have opinionated on gay rights.  Central Government Ministers have gone into a huddle.  Gay activists are ecstatic that the Delhi High Court has struck down Sec 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as being…