Reflections
51. Yes, what fun life is!
History books claim that Samuel Pepys, born in London on 23 February 1633, was the first reported real diarist. I have had this habit of recording daily events in a diary for many years. In fact,...
50. Not all self-consciousness leads to social anxiety
Bertrand Russell once asked an eminent lady whether she had ever felt shy. She replied, “No, whenever I have felt any tendency that way, I have said to myself, 'You are the cleverest member...
49. Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders
Fannie Hurst, the American short-story writer and novelist, was highly popular during the 1920s and was also one of the highest-paid writers. Although her novels are now mostly out of print, they...
48. When Rock Bottom Becomes a Solid Foundation
When someone lives life as it comes, without trying to change its course or choose a different path, they are said to follow their fate. Fate decides the direction of their life. Many people around us...
47. No dull moment with Khushwant Singh
It was February 2, 2007. I called Khushwant Singh and gleefully told him about my appointment as Editor of the Dalal Street Investment Journal. He asked me to repeat the name twice. &n...
46. What does it matter what religion we are?
Today was the day when, for the first time in recorded history, something happened that changed the course of history. Yes, on September 15, 1935, the Nazis introduced the Nuremberg Race Laws that wer...
45. Let me have some Indian goodies to eat before protesting against Indians
We all are aware what is happening all over the world where just a few years back we used to hear the slogan like ‘global village’ and ‘the world is one’. Today I saw a viral video shared by a fr...
44. And that is how silence protects the aggressors
Personally, I lost faith in Indian judiciary when as a journalist I saw something at a High Court judge’s residence. Right before my eyes. But I’ll not go in details. Read between the lines. Since the...
43. The pleasure of being in a crowd
Octavia Estelle Butler, who became the first American science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship wrote: “Religion kept some of my relatives alive, because it was all they ha...
42. Civilized nations are like hunting-dogs
Anatole France was a French poet and novelist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1921.All his life he was around books. First as the son of a bookseller, and later as the librarian for the Franc...
41. A forced diktat doesn’t solve an issue
Today, around 105 years back, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed in 1919 after the end of the World War I, between the Allies and the Republic of German-Austria. It was supposed to be a pe...
40. Books in the Boondocks...
I’ve been associated with the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, almost four decades – first as a book lover, a reader and then as a member of its Managing Committee. For more than 12 years I was a...