BEHIND EVERY SCAM, THERE IS AN UNPUNISHED BUREAUCRAT
Originally posted on 22 Nov 2011 : Scams have become as common as bank robberies a few decades ago. We are beginning to get used to them. The only difference is in the magnitude of the money involved. The latest figure is so mind boggling that most of us are not even able to comprehend the kind of impact it …
FROM STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHS TO CINEMATOGRAPHY
Originally posted on 6 July 2010 : At a birthday party last week, I saw a six year old girl taking pictures. The results were immediately available and what I saw left me impressed. The photographs were as good as any which I have seen. My mind’s eye went back to the time when I was at the Academy, and …
A BATTLE WITH AN INVISIBLE ENEMY
This piece is NOT about insurgents or terrorists. It concerns a threat which all of us face wherever we live. It is a curse of the modern civilization in which we sleep indoors all through the year. My research began a few weeks ago, when I was plagued by a severe attack of allergies. Each night, a rash appeared on …
‘Fastocracy’ ; ‘fastocrat’ and ‘fastic’
Originally posted in Aug 2011 : The ‘Anna phenomenon’ compels us to coin a few words and add them to the lexicon. The word ‘fast’ has to be joined with ‘-cracy’ ; ‘-crat’ and ‘-ic’ to create ‘fastocracy’ ; ‘fastocrat’ and ‘fastic’ to get the equivalents of ‘democracy’; ‘democrat’ ; and ‘democratic’ A one-liner crafted by Winston Churchill seventy …
Youth fades away ; but friendships are life-long...
Originally posted on 10 Oct 2010 : Last week when Ms Talat Zamir rang up to say that she would be visiting Chandigarh, we invited her to stay with us. We were neighbors in 1969-71 in secunderabad and have shared some very happy moments, but it is quite some time since we met her. To revive old memories, we thumbed …
A New Year’s Resolution for 2012
Originally posted on 5 Jan 2012 : A New Year’s Resolution for 2012 Inspired by a ‘Middle’ written by Raj Chatterjee 35 years ago It is said that ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. In the same vein, borrowing words and ideas from an eminent writer is a tribute to his genius, and not plagiarism, if the source is …
GAAGAR MEIN SAAGAR
Originally posted on 28 Oct 2011 : I am neither a poet nor a singer; but if it were not for people like you and me the likes of Ghalib, Gulzar, Abida Begham and Jagjit may not have been what they are! The great queen of melody, ‘Malika-e-tarannum’ Noor Jehan once said, “Phankar ka phan (the fine-art of the …
Jesus and the Buddha, can a person follow both?
A few months ago, I heard about a person who got into a heated argument with the persons who came to his house for recording the census data. When asked about his religious affiliation, he maintained that he practiced more than one faith, and he wanted it to be recorded in the proforma. The census officials said that there was …
