‘A Decision to Divert’ I woke up early in the morning as is my wont and opened my laptop to soak in my daily dose of Google news before the rest of the family woke up. ‘I am sorry, I am tired’ NEET aspirant dies by suicide in Madurai. Screamed the morning headlines: Jyothi is...
‘The Perfect Match’ “There was this guy who went to the marriage bureau to find a girl as a life partner. The bureau was housed in a ten-storey building. As he entered the foyer on the ground floor, there was a notice on a prominent door, “If you want a beautiful wife, please climb to...
Memento Mori Although I am not at all politically inclined, like most of us, I would like to believe that I understand politics a fair bit However, the happenings a few days back outside the precincts of the Delhi airport left me a bit baffled and fairly entertained. The occurrence was actually quite mundane and...
A (S)troll in the Park Although I am not a great church goer, I have a confession to make. In my four decades of uniformed service, there was not a single class, lecture or conference in which I did not sleep for some time or at least catch a wink…and all that without feeling guilty...
“No Lesser” One of the most age-old philosophical questions that has been posed is: Why do bad things happen to good people? Undeniably, this question is loaded with subjectivity and would not stand technical scrutiny at all. What can be defined as good and bad itself is a debatable starting point. The answers surely have...
Fuzed Bulb: No way! Came across this WhatsApp forward a few days ago, which I am sure many of us might have also come across: A Senior Executive retired and shifted from his palatial official quarters to the Housing Society, where he owned a flat. He considered himself big and never talked to anyone. Even...
The Missing Soul Year of the Lord 2005. Our younger son had just joined a local school during our posting abroad. We were a little amused that one of the compulsory subjects allocated to him was ‘Cooking’, although in retrospection today, it makes absolute sense as a life-skill. During one of the classes, he was...
A Glass Half Full Every Independence day like today, my inbox gets flooded with dozens of congratulatory messages. These messages are more often than not, ‘forwards’ emerging from the efforts of some digital artist and propagated across social media by the press of a single button at the bottom of a WhatsApp broadcast list. So,...
CELEBRATION BY AFFILIATION “Stellar performance by the Indian Men’s Hockey team at #TokyoOlympics to beat Great Britain by 3-1 & entering Olympic top 4 after 41 years. Happy to note that all 3 goals were scored by Punjab players Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh & Hardik Singh. Congratulations…go for Gold!,” tweeted the Punjab CM. The tweet...
Enough is Enough The other day my good friend Suresh asked me a simple question, “ How much money is enough?” He himself being a very wise man knew the answer perfectly well that money is probably never enough. He just wanted to read my thoughts on the subject, that’s all. I guess, the question...
A False Smile “Bro, I have had enough!” Ramesh declared emphatically to his buddy Ronnie, “It is just impossible for us to stay together.” Ronnie put down his drink at the bar table and looked up quizzically at Ramesh, aka Ramsy for all his friends. “Ronnie, to be honest, actually it is the other way...
The Family Doctor “Look, look, he is waking up, it is a wonder!,” someone yelled as Sohan Lal tended to his first official patient lying comatose in bed. Dr Sohan Lal to be technically correct, had just come back home after graduating from a medical college in Lahore. An urgent distress call had him rushing...
Poles Apart One evening at the bar and the next day gone! What a terrible introduction to squadron life it was for my buddy Saks and me. We both had landed up as freshly-minted pilot officers in a fighter squadron in early 1985. Filled with excitement at having our dreams finally realized, we had hesitatingly...
A Drop in the Ocean I do not personally consider myself a reformist or activist of any sort. However, I have always attached a very strong sense of immorality and unfairness to the patriarchal practice of Dowry in our country. So, as a part of what I jokingly call my ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, I used...
The Ultimate Adhesive “Actually I liked the three bedroom one better, how I wish I had gone for it”. I couldn’t but help overhear the lady with her husband in tow, complaining patronizingly to the Real Estate dealer after moving into a 4-bhk house worth approximately 4 Crore Rupees. To which, the dealer, fully cognizant...
‘Win or Lose’ I don’t like momentary pauses from the other end when I am in conversation with my better half. Invariably they tell me that something is not quite right. And so it was when I asked her this time after getting into the car, “Honey, quite enjoyed the show, eh?”. The dreaded pause...
The Ride of His Life “Sir, can I ask you a question?”, Jassi asked very hesitatingly as we were rolling down Runway 02 after landing. “Yeah, you sure can Jassi” I replied. “Sir, with the kind of performance I have just shown you, do you think I can go solo?” he queried rather sheepishly with...
Father-Sons: Along the Way Father: We need to have a chat son. Son: Sure Papa. Father: Your mom and I have just come back from the Parent-Teachers meeting. Son: Hmm. Father: Your teacher is pretty happy with your grades, but she has one observation. Son: Hmm Father: I believe you spend a lot of time...
A Beautiful Wife. Immense amount of commotion was heard from outside the Mishra household today. Neighbours found that very odd because the Mishras were known to be the most gentle and peaceful family in the Moga neighbourhood. A peep inside and Oh God! The roof was intact but all hell was breaking loose. Jaikishen aka...
0H DEAR: A QUEST FOR JEST (Dedicated to the dearest of my friends. I know for sure where all your energy comes from) Oh Dear, It all started with a confirmed rumour from an untrustworthy source. It has been unreliably learnt that Whattsapp has engaged a leading Data Analytics company to determine the co- relation...
When a Jat Saved the Day…..and 400 Crores! There are known to be Punjabi Jats, Sikh Jats, Haryanvi Jats, Muslim Jats and many more. However in the armed forces, when you refer to someone as a Jat, it is neither a racist inuendo nor does it always relate to a geographical place where he hails...
Silver Coins……..a true story. Newspapers in the last few days have been awash with Mehul Choksi’s potboiler exploits which appear to give the James Bond franchise a run for their money. Not that earlier episodes of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi were any less exciting but Season 3 of ‘India’s Most Wanted Fugitives’ takes it...
Freedom of Thought While we often espouse freedom of speech, expression and religion, we seldom talk about the overarching ‘freedom of thought’ from which all our choices and other freedoms flow. I often joke that we are a family of four with six different views. In the same vein, we are a 1.3 billion nation with...
The Battle Within A lot is happening out there. Quite an understatement I agree. The world is going through unexpected and tumultuous changes, the likes of which have probably never been witnessed before. At the same time, a daily unceasing battle rages within all of us. The die-hard optimist in me believes that the good...
Love Yourself We very often talk about loving our dear ones and making them happy. In fact, for some of us, this endeavour becomes a full-time activity and a lifetime chore. However, somewhere down the line, while we become engrossed in looking and caring after others, we tend to overlook the fact that we need...
THE STONE AGES (From the archives of 2003 when such practices were rampant) Caution: Please don’t feel remorseful after reading. Take heart, most of us are probably guilty of similar transgressions. Scientists believe and mythology propagates that a number of phenomenon repeat themselves at preordained intervals of time. One such epoch making happening or era...
An Open Letter to Major General Vasu Vardhan, ex Comdt, Base Hospital New Delhi Dear General Vardhan, Your recent posting to RR Hospital claimed by the corridors of power as a ‘de-stress’ measure, must have come as a rude shock not only to you but also the troops you commanded so uprightly and the patients...
With Greater Power Leadership is indisputably a challenging and tough task and more so when you are leading large organizations and institutions. Position bestows an element of power on the leader with which he is expected to deliver for the larger good of the ‘led’. For that, the leader has to constantly juggle between many...
‘Anger marks the limit of a man’ (Delivered at the Bombay Gymkhana Sep 2020) Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I must admit that I am relatively new to Mumbai, I have spent exactly one year in this amazing city and what a pleasure for me to be amongst such wonderful people today. Before I proceed...
On Purpose A rather simple, apparently profound but actually quite fundamental question had many stumped in a gathering of intellectuals the other day with generic answers like spreading happiness, do good to others, look after my family etc being expounded without conviction. The age-old question that was the centrepiece of discussion was ‘What is your...
As The Sun Goes Westerly… The pervasive conviction of the living is that our time is distant and far away. This is something that happens to others. We generally feel that we are immortal till the time our parents are alive. Such is life that we subconsciously tend to think that nature will follow the...
DIGITAL SINS A week back, a young Indian girl was the toast of her native country with her being selected as the first Woman President of the Oxford Student Union in the UK. The accolade may not have mattered to a lot of people around the world but for the bright girl it was...
BY GOD When I was a small kid, ‘By God’ used to be a swear word signifying that I had now rid myself of all lies, clutter and pretences and now stand before you in absolute truth, in sync with my inner conscience. Of course some of us had learnt the fine art of lying...
A REPUBLIC DAY SMILE Returning home in my staff car, after having presided over the Republic Day activities of my formation, I was in a kind of reflective mood. Well, this was my fortieth year in uniform and the day had not been any different from the previous versions. The flag hoisting, the parade, the...
The First Step 2020 has finally made way to a New Year full of hope. The year gone by may be best forgotten by many, especially those who have lost dear ones or had narrow escapes themselves. It has also been immensely distressing for those who have lost jobs, livelihood and even roofs over their...
A VOW OF SILENCE When I was in school, my mother used to fast on every Tuesday. When I asked why, I was told that fasting is good for the body and more so for the soul. At the same time, I was greatly intrigued by the mother of one of my classmate who used...
PART III of Arbitration and Conciliation Act-1996
ARBITRATION AND CONCILIATION ACT 1996
“You have no enemies, you say? Alas, my friend, the boast is poor. He who has mingled in the fray of duty that the brave endure, must have made foes. If you have none, small is the work that you have done. You’ve hit no traitor on the hip. You’ve dashed no cup from perjured...
Dear Ashok, I remember our parting discussion on mediation and conflict resolution. If you recollect, I had opined that mediation is considered successful if it leads to an acceptable solution although it may not be a fair one. You had probably a slightly different opinion on the subject wherein you felt that outcomes need...
