Both my next rank and reputation in simultaneous jeopardy, I had to act fast to break the deteriorating imbroglio…. Back in the mid 1980s, the wait for purchase of a Bajaj chetak could extend to 2-3 years. You could however bypass the waiting line, if your booking had been done using foreign exchange. My elder...
It is not where the person stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge. Sometimes it is very amusing and extremely illuminating to go through thoughts and writings of small children. When instructed to spell out their ambition in life, a tiny-tot gathering listed many commonly known professions....
A recent high profile domestic speech focussed around an aspiration to soon become the third largest economy in the world. And why not? We have recently bought a new car since the previous one became due for extinction. Ever since, I love my morning half an hour drive to work. The traffic is low...
A SAFETY MESSAGE FROM THE GODS: TRUST SEAT-BELTS AND OF COURSE, NO ONE IS EXEMPT!
“Sir, you will not believe it but I have waited all these years to meet you at least once.” Pilot Officer rank of the Air Force, equivalent to a 2nd lieutenant in the Army has sadly been removed from the tree of hierarchy. The ‘Piloo’ pip used to be so thin that sometimes you had...
It all sounded like a “chicken soup recipe” to me.. and I was the chicken being cooked…! On the occasion of *World Plastic Surgery Day* I would like to express my gratitude towards the Surgeons who operated on me and gave me a new life. Dr. Amresh Baliyarsigh (Plastic Surgeon), Dr. Jayesh Vahanwala (Maxillofacial surgeon)...
Purpose need not be sought only in the dramatic or heroic but can be found even in the mundane….. 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...
And then probably out of sheer pity, the driver had an incredible change of heart….. “But we will miss the ferry back to Ibiza!”, both of us exclaimed in loud unison laced with panic. “And that’s not all, our cruise ship berthed there might sail away without us!” The impending catastrophe was all too obvious....
The coup de grâce was delivered when the entire roof of a hangar rolled up like a carpet and flew off! I love discovering interoperable idioms in Hindi and English. However, there is no classic equivalent for “सिर मुंडाते ही ओले पड़ना”. In simple terms, it means, “Misfortune in the very first adventure.” The Hindi...
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...
Given that extra moment to contemplate, the best of man comes to the fore like a shield to prevent his worst from getting exposed. George Bernard Shaw, one of the greatest playwrights of his time was considered an irrepressible wit. But the devilish Shaw was outwitted by actress Cornelia Otis Skinner in an exchange after...
Like bubbles of water, the fickleness of life and fame stared at me at that instant… 26th January is normally a day of celebrations all over the country. However for a great number of Kutch inhabitants in 2001, it turned out to be their worst nightmare. Yes, I am talking about the massive intra-plate earthquake...
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...
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...
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...
Digital embraces can be fatal since privacy is not private any more and security is just a relative concept. 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...
He was a living legend and his exploits the stuff fairy tales are made of. A superstar for even those who were born much after he retired from the game. 1983 was a turbulent year with the rise in tensions surrounding nuclear weapons. The Cold War occupied everybody’s minds. Nuclear cruise missiles owned by America...
During combat, it was always the second attacker we were more bothered about. He was the one who would conceal his entry and creep in unspotted. However strong may be the urge, there are a few things you should never do. One of them is to ask a retired fighter pilot about his combat exploits...
Lateral thinking solutions are always fun to read with a regretful feeling of, “Why couldn’t I think of it?” The internet is an absolute jungle. You enter its confines looking for blue berries for the evening dessert and somehow you land up reading about an automated device for sorting out pili fruit. Now Bicol is...
If a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. Broken window panes have for long, stood out as a symbol of apathy and dispiritedness. Whenever you see a broken window in the neighbourhood, no one wants to own responsibility for the delinquent...
Dear Sir, This letter of mine took a longish journey to you. I read with interest and earnestness your post ‘High Time’. In response I will request you through a flight in the past (time). Our waypoints will be a few minuscule samples of events which had a profound effect on shaping the society we...
“Sir, when I put trust in someone, it is actually an investment. We thus create a possibility and an opportunity for someone to become a better version of his original self.” To be fair, it would be absolutely wrong to stereotype 30 million people living in a particular city. Yet, every metropolis appears to have...
Dear Sir, Imagine the joy of listening to your own language from a part of the world that you don’t know. I felt the rush of excitement that comes with making your own happy discovery. I was joyous at listening to a mix of Hindi and Urdu that I had grown up with in Lucknow....
Even “If I were a rich man” as Tevye wished to be, so much was out there to “Take my breath away”. There are some memories which just refuse to fade away. Watching “Fiddler on the Roof” in an open-air theatre at Ghorpuri on a wet Saturday evening is one of them. My course-mate Govila...
Fireworks Behind the Scenes Act I: Scene I ‘Patakha’, a colloquial word for fireworks is a very unusual nickname. Often used in a rather different sense, the Mayor’s trusted secretary had been christened with it since his childhood. When queried about it, he had a rather amusing explanation for it, “I was born on a...
Lipstick, Powder and Paint Whenever you are posted to a new station, you do look forward to making friends and acquaintances amongst the locals. More so if you get any information about any relatives, however distant they may be, it can be a real bonus. So here it was in the good old eighties when...
Distressed Genes The other day I got stuck in Ambience Mall waiting for a friend to join me for lunch. Since our luncheon appointment had got postponed by a couple of hours, I decided to while away my time at the movie theatre. Much against my own wishes, I walked into the ‘Pathaan’ matinee show....
Take it by the Horn Loosing weight they say is more about what you eat and seldom about how much you eat. Nutritionists therefore strictly advise against starving. So through a very carefully designed food chart, they change your dietary habits. The carbs and sugars go out of the window and the fibre comes in...
Beyond the Raybans The Indian Air Force lost two fighter aircraft in a horrific accident a few days back. The accident probably was the result of a mid-air collision although the same needs to be confirmatively established by a Court of Inquiry. The most tragic part was the unfortunate death of a Mirage-2000 pilot who...
High Time As if the French Charlie Hebdo cartoon fiasco two years back was not enough. In April, Far-right Danish politician Paludan’s announcement of a Quran-burning “tour” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan sparked riots across Sweden. Even this Saturday, he went ahead and burnt a copy of the holy book in front of...
Good Samaritan saves Life: Fined by Motorway Patrol Year of the Lord 2006. The eye-catching news headline graced the front page of an East Yorkshire newspaper in the UK. The incident related to a car crash on a certain motorway in Yorkshire. The crash had been an ugly one as the car had apparently spun...
The Legend of Bankura “And then what happened Papa?” queried Jatin who had come down for the winter break, midway through his MBA program. Well it was not the first time, Jatin was listening to his father Raghav relating to him the story about his ‘birth’day. Yet he never tired listening to it for obvious...
Well Worth the Effort ‘Faith is taking the first step even if you can’t see the staircase’. What happened to the ‘Look before you leap’ stuff? ‘Surrender yourself to whatever is pre-defined for you’. I did that when I got married. ‘Practice Zero judgement, zero complaint and no criticism’. Is anyone announcing a layoff or pay cut...
Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor When you need to enter Parliament in a wheelchair, there’s only one entrance with a ramp, at door 9, a good four minute trip (with the assistance of helpers) to the Lok Sabha. This temporary disability has taught me how poorly equipped we are to support people with disabilities. Dear Mr...
For the Love of God The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement of medieval India. It sought to bring religious reforms by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Reaching its zenith between the 15th and 17th century, the movement defined an individualistic loving relationship with a personally defined God. The “love for...
“Princess Diana was never meant to wear the revenge dress.” A sensational news item claimed the revelation while another one mentioned that the same garment had recently been sold for £ 65000. So essentially, a salacious gossip created and sustained over 28 years enabled the sale of a second-hand dress for probably more than 100...
Redemption Court (Inspired by True Events) The sonnet is one of the most famous forms in English poetry. Traditionally, it has fourteen lines which are linked by an intricate rhyme scheme. It is often an expression of some kind of ‘desire or love’. In a similar vein, Advocate Seth’s love for English literature was only...
And then came Akhil… These developers are smart guys indeed! They have been in the business for so long that they know exactly where to stop. What I mean is that when these builders offer you an apartment in a semi-furnished state, they know the precise point after which the Queen of Sheba choices will...
Pigments of Imagination Heartiest Congratulations Rishi Sunak on being appointed the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom! How I wish the headlines, comments and memes had stopped at just that. Instead, they all focused on how a ‘brown’ man had broken the glass ceiling to occupy a haloed seat which apparently not many in the...
Dear Sir, I read ‘The Ravaged Queen’ as soon as I got your notification. This post as opposed to most of your posts was one that had no bright sides to it. Alas a black body doesn’t reflect light. And so seems to be the case with most of the picturesque places in India. I...
The Ravaged Queen Most of us must have come across the childhood tale of two friends, a bee and a worm. One day the bee invited the worm to his garden. “My friend, the worm, spends all his time in dung,” thought the bee. “It would be nice for him to smell some fragrant flowers...
Vanity Fair Normally all fairy tales start with, ‘Once upon a time’ and so shall ours. Once upon a time, there was a very gifted and skilful cricketer who was the toast of the sporting fraternity. Stepping on every ladder of success, he rose to the topmost rankings in no time. Centuries after centuries in...
Turning Two Dear Patrons and Friends, We wish to share the good news with you that Seek Mediation has turned Two today! Exactly two years back, we set about a mission of “Conflict Resolution through Sharing of Perspectives”. To a large extent, we feel that we have been successful in promoting our guiding principles and...
Sweet and Salty Genealogy in the hands of a 10-year old certainly puts you on the defensive at times. As my younger son asked me many years back, “What does ‘to savour’ mean?” To which I replied easily while putting on my overalls, “To taste and relish or enjoy to your heart’s content.” “And then...
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...
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...
“Ragged Shots” If you were to search the net for “ragged shots”, you might land up viewing some teenager in torn jeans having vodka shots in a downtown bar. Well, this phrase is far away from such a google-search result and probably unknown to many in the military as well. Lemme then take you back...
‘On Being Heard’ Whenever the opportunity arises, my better half makes it a point to remark on my selective memory. While I very often forget birthdays (including hers which is a criminal act for sure!), anniversaries and shopping lists, I can very vividly recollect some incidents dating back to my adolescent age. Inexplicably, these occurrences...
“Babe di Mehar” (Divine Blessings) Seated in the rear seat of a war-weary, rickety city taxy, I am witnessing the traffic exploits of my Michael Schumacher inspired taxy driver Surinder who has migrated from the Ludhiana race tracks to the Delhi bye lanes in search of greener pastures. Within less than seven minutes of our...
“A Spirited Defence” There is a distinct difference between an ‘inquiry’ and an ‘inquisition’. While an inquiry is associated with a search for truth, the word ‘inquisition’ has its genesis in ancient Roman Catholic tribunals for the discovery and punishment of heresy. In modern understanding, it suggests a long and thorough investigation that involves extensive...
4 Large Rum Early morning 5 AM, on detachment at a flying base somewhere in the South-Western sector. I was driving my official Gypsy towards the operations room. The Met Briefing was planned a bit early today for a 6:30 take off. It was rather dark and cloudy. As there was no flying taking place...
Contempt by Court I remember quite vividly that I was made the Library member for an Officers’ mess exactly four decades back. In my enthusiasm to infuse fresh blood into the academic arteries of a very antiquated and rather limited-collection library, I had gone to Hyderabad to pick up some new books which went beyond...
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...
Flagging Faith The phrase “Wear your heart on your sleeve” is an English phrase implying showing our intimate and deepest emotions in an open and honest manner. The origins of this phrase dating back to the Middle Ages is probably to the “sleeve” which referred to a piece of armour for covering and protecting the arm. When...
A Matter of Choice “It’s been an exceptionally busy day, isn’t it Sister Sufia?”, remarked Dr Ramnathan, as he mopped the sweat off his brows and stretched himself on the crude recliner in his chamber His brief interval of rest was well-deserved indeed. More fondly known to all his staff and patients in the hospital...
Dear Sir, I read with much interest as always your latest blog post ‘The Abilene Paradox: A Trial By Fire’. Given that I am very much vested in India (even though I have adopted Canada to be my country and vice versa), and therefore its well-being means my family and friends’ will continue to prosper...
The Abilene Paradox: A Trial by Fire If you were to do a Wiki search on “The Abilene Paradox”, you will get something like this: “When a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of many or all of the individuals in the group. It involves...
VIDEO-2022-05-28-13-12-24 “Ad Nauseam” A major part of my childhood went towards reading Louis L’Amour type Western novels and comics. The adventurous world of cowboys, their steeds, their Smith and Wessons, spurs, silver bullets and romantic interludes fascinated me to no end. Irrespective of the storyline, the revolvers and guns remained the centerpiece of attraction in...
“It Can Be Done” Dear Sir This particular post is dealing with a lot to be unpacked. In the following few paras, I do not attempt unpacking all of it, but a small part of it – and that is the will of the society. Thinking about where to start writing and giving form to...
“Blood Money” Across the Western border, Masooma Begum* is in mourning. Her husband Asif Mian was brutally murdered in a family feud last week. The disagreements and semi-violent pinpricks between the two families had been going on for the last three decades. But it took a long-pending adverse High court judgement to be the last...
“Culpable Homicide” The wailing siren of an ambulance is never a welcome sound. But in this case, the arrival of the ambulance van in record time in Kathputli Nagar, a slum dwelling in West Delhi was indeed a matter of great relief for Shyam’s neighbours. Hats off to the driving skills of the driver that...
Truly Secular: A Worthy Response from Amit Dear Sir, You have touched upon something which I never merely classify as a ‘topic’. Secularism forms the bedrock of the ethos of all progressive countries of the world. It is the life force of a nation that identifies itself with the fabric of its country as...
“Truly Secular” Long before the Mohalla clinics came into vogue, the annual Ramlila played out in almost every alternate street of the capital used to be the most popular mohalla activity half a century back. What a social event it used to be with families from all walks of life, irrespective of caste, creed or...
“The Original Sin” The Original Sin is a part of the Catholic Christian “Doctrine of the Fall” wherein it is believed that when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they fell from a state of perfection and brought evil into a perfect world. The sin per se was disobedience to God when they ate a forbidden...
From Afar (A Beautiful and Sensitive poem by Agnieszka Zbieranska) As the red power unleashes Across fertile lands of green I can’t help but be brought back To the hell and pain once seen You ask me, why is my grief so deep For Ukrainian people Those still fighting proud And those who won’t ever...
“Know when to fold ’em” Ever since I was exposed to reading the classics, the Mahabharata has always been my all-time favourite. Fascinatingly close to life and its frailties, it exposes the best and the worst on offer. Each chapter brings forth a different level or genre of excitement as you are spellbound to this...
“A Quest for Purpose” A very common theme which surfaces in many forums that I interact on is “Purpose” or more often the perceived lack of it. This refrain comes invariably from people who have obviously transcended the bottom two layers of Maslow’s hierarchy. They talk about emptiness and a feeling of hollowness in spite...
Alea iacta est – ‘The dice is cast’ (A worthy response received from friend Amit to our earlier post) Sir, Thank you for penning a ‘from the heart’ post given the geo-political crisis gripping the world now. The question that surfaces from the reading – has anything changed since Tennyson wrote his poem ‘The Charge...
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. (Alfred Tennyson 1854) As the war clouds grow thicker in Europe with an understandable ripple effect all over the world, the Western media-machinery...
