I took my seat in the Delhi bound AC chair car, pleased that the adjoining seat was empty. At Agra a man came and claimed it. Resentfully, I glared at him. He was a compulsive talker. In fifteen minutes, I wanted to tape his mouth. When mono-syllabic answers failed to shut him, I got progressively ruder. It was […]
Choices
Fragile
Raman’s heart sank as he feverishly searched his pockets. With rising trepidation, he turned his bag inside out- another blank. He ran his classroom and searched there. He even lay flat on the floor and peered under the ancient wooden cupboard. Almost hysterical now, he asked all his friends, begging them to end the cruel […]
Come Alive
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~ Dr. Howard Thruman I have met hordes of people who would have a fit if you repeated the above quote in their hearing. There are also […]
Look Before You Leap
I was in the seventh grade. My class teacher was this stunningly gorgeous girl called Celine. We called her Miss Celine and loved her madly. She had her own voodoo. She made sunshine her personal accessory. When she swished into the class in the morning, tripping along briskly, she would be glittering with sun beams. […]
Religion
I don’t believe in religion. There! I said it! I was in ninth grade. There was a moral science class going on. Our regular teacher was absent hence our vice- principal Sr M was conducting the class. It was a combined class with three sections squeezed together. Imagine eighty+ fifteen year old girls packed together […]
Timeless Skills
In the past twenty years, the world has transformed. Communication has been the key to this transformation. It has shrunk the size of the world to amazing extent. Who could have thought that you could see people in real time from half way across the world? Who could have thought that complicated operations could be […]
Off The Shelf
Off the shelf solutions are convenient. They are cost- effective instead of being cheap. To the naked eye, the former is merely the politically correct way of saying the latter. Actually, there is no other difference between the two. Off the shelf apparel, business solutions, software… they are all cheaper and very convenient to use. […]
Unlimited
Shane Koyczan was bullied when he was a child. Children are cruel at times… without meaning to be. To carry that pain, to ‘obey’ the perceptions of those whose world view is immature and miniscule, to shape your life with words used by those who had no idea of their power, to live out someone […]
Pliant
The free online dictionary defines Pliant as: 1. Easily bent or flexed; pliable. 2. Easily altered or modified to fit conditions; adaptable. 3. Yielding readily to influence or domination; compliant. Its synonyms include: amenable, ductile, elastic, flexible, governable, limber, lissom, malleable, manageable, plastic, pliable, soft, supple, tractable, yielding. You may have heard this word used for […]
Who do you want to be?
Today is one of those whimsical days I refuse to do anything. Today I want to be a sponge, to soak up life. I want to sit on a fallen tree- trunk by the side of the road and watch life go rolling past in its numerous carriages- some gaudy, some plain. Today is a […]