Inspired Living

The phone was ringing and I was in an agony of impatience for him to pick it up. This was typical of me of course, I want everything yesterday. “Hellloooo”, Kakka’s (Father’s brother- Uncle) hoarse voice exploded in my ear. With a start I held the cell away from my ear. “Kakka…?” I asked irrelevantly. […]

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The Bond

Two years ago, polio struck Namrata.  By the time her fever broke, her left leg was paralyzed. In the intervening two years, the leg had deformed. She was now confined to a wheelchair for life. They were a family of four. Parents Rahul and Asha, a twenty-year-old son Namit and a thirteen-year-old daughter Namrata. It […]

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The Driver- Part III

Continued from  The Driver- Part II “What happened to the bag carrying the drugs and gold…?” the man asked again. Amrit stared at the man confused. While recounting the story, he had only said the bag carried gold. He hadn’t mentioned the drugs at all. Then how did this man know…? In his agitation, Amrit […]

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The Spirit of Mumbai

Just as the spirit of a person is the essence of that person, so too is the spirit of a city. When we understand the core to a person, we can predict their reactions to some extent. We can say, “Oh I know what she will say when she hears this news.” Or… “I know […]

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Lieutenant Prakash

In February of 2006, I was asked to conduct a week long seminar for Physics Post-Graduate students of my old college. It was the students who had approached me. They told me they wont be able to pay me much. I liked the way they had taken the initiative and the positive energy with which they talked. Moreover, […]

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Backup Plans

My eldest one came, pulled up a chair and flopped down on it. She had just returned from her painting class. I knew something was bothering her, or she would have proceeded to her room to change and freshen up before talking to me. I was in the middle of writing a tricky kind of […]

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Scaling the Heights of Failure

Success is sweet. It has turned into an industry by itself. We all love it… we covet it… we pursue it. The farther it seems from us the more frenzied we get… reading it up… devouring it… soaking it in our soul. In that desperation, we forget to savor the failures. Somehow I feel very […]

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