PARIBHA VASHIST The recent unexpected and tragic demise of a celebrated Bollywood actor left the entire nation in shock and despair. This incident sparked a series of debates on the issue of mental health and depression. “From desire comes sorrow,” is a Buddhist aphorism for looking at depression, attributed to materialistic attachments and also constant […]
MASOOMA SAKRIWALA It’s been a long day; a tiring one The moment you enter your floor in the building You look at your door and you see hope. Hope waiting for you inside your home Hope sitting right behind the closed door on the couch Hope that would come running into your arms as soon […]
PARIBHA VASHIST I ‘inherited’ a rustic copy of the book, An Autobiography, by Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India, or rather, found it desolately [considering that books have emotions] lying in my father’s old bookshelf, untouched for over a decade, as if pleading to be read. This book aroused my interest the moment it […]
MASOOMA SAKRIWALA I was sitting in my college canteen 2-3 months ago and my friend showed me news regarding ‘some virus’ called the ‘coronavirus’ that had spread in China. Call me self-centred, or just ignorant, I ended up disregarding most part of the news while my taste buds were busy enjoying the delicious Szechuan Hakka […]
KARAN SHAH Pawan Verma’s refreshing book, Age of the Imperfect Leader: Leading from Strength, challenges the concept and foundation of the successful leader. It spurs readers to aim at a paradigm shift and emerge as effective and inspiring leaders. It also emphasises that leadership thrives in a clear environment of collaboration, not in a command and control […]
VENKATESH GOVINDARAJAN Just think of a star to sum up Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, while listing the keywords. Its five sides stand for 1] technology, 2] politics, 3] despair and hope, 4] truth, and 5] resilience. This needs to be ‘read’ after you have digested his sapiens and before, or […]
ARCHIT MODI Strange and Mysterious Places the World Forgot is a fascinating book. It takes the reader on a voyage of [re]discovery across India — a country as mesmerising as its people and history. In the process, it provides us with a riveting dekko into some of its most, eerily strange and also mysterious places that are hard to […]
MASOOMA SAKRIWALA The book under review is an anthology of poems by Venkatesh Govindarajan, PhD, who identifies himself as a pragmatic environmentalist, more specifically an animal lover. The book celebrates Govindarajan’s humble nature — a man with a heart of gold, especially in this world of cut-throat competition where most of us focus on easy […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR No Indian ruler has aroused as much admiration and hatred as Tipu Sultan, the ‘Tiger of Mysore.’ His is a mixed legacy: a paradox of contrasts and a piebald reflection of our changing times. This piece does not take sides; it looks at the Tipu persona without sporting tinted glasses. First, things first. It was […]
VENKATESH GOVINDARAJAN I first heard about Hans Rosling, MD, PhD, from my colleague Maria Sandberg, PhD, at Karlstad University [Sweden], when I was assisting her in a first-year course in Environmental Technology. Rosling’s ‘baby’ — GapMinder — was to be introduced to students, the purpose being exactly the same which Rosling pursued for most of […]