Reflections

Should we be advocating the teaching of the Shrimad Bhagwad Geeta in our schools? I ask this question of myself, and that too as a Bill is being raised in our parliament, to this effect. So far as I am aware, this is a private member’s bill {do drop a comment if that is not so, will edit article}. This bill is coming at a time when a combination of factors is driving interest in reading this code-book of life, judging from posts on Social Media. While it was always a central theme of our life, movies as well as our polity, it has off late come centre stage, which is a great and welcome development. MY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS HOLY BOOK My first experience  was reading an Amar Chitra Katha on this topic at age 9-10 or thereabouts; later, at age 12-13, I started reading The Shrimad Bhagwad Geeta. I managed to read maybe a few chapters, before moving. Time passed till around 2014, when I again found an interest in this code of life. Since then, I have read it daily, four pages a d...

Disclaimer: This is a work of historical fiction – and if some of it has any basis in facts, I, the reviewer, am not aware of them {insofar as they pertain to underlined word} MY RATING : As a Fiction Book : 4.5 Stars… As a work of Historical Fiction :   2-2.5 Stars… Why this difference? Because I am an amateur historian, and a researcher on the Indian Colonial Period in particular, having studied well over 40 authentic books and manuscripts from all possible viewpoints in a research study that is into its 9 th year now, and will in all likelihood continue for at least another few years to come. The increasing penchant to study the INA is welcome, as its contribution is not known to us Indians. But the rising popular belief that it was only the INA that got us independence does not have basis in the facts so far as I am aware; basis my long study. And that is why I don’t welcome fiction works on the INA, it is way too important a subject.   THE FACTS AS PER...

“Supercouples” is yet another addition to the fast growing field of literature on Indian Business as well as Indian Literature, which makes it one of the groundbreakers in these fields. Just a few years ago, there was a complete silence on writing in India, about India; bookstores were filled with Western stuff, even on matters pertaining to India! It was hard to find anything – good or otherwise – by Indian Authors, writing in India & about India. Happily, this is now beginning to change, with a series of excellent works in any number of genres; the current book carries this happy trend forward. The concept is simple – it tells the story of 19 husband-wife couples who ventured into Business, the big bad / good, new and challenging world of Start-ups. That by itself is quite sufficient to grab attention; a couple going into business is, shall we say, a solution that most people would avoid, as it does tend to create problems. At least that is the general impression s...

One of the current trending news items in Business news is the status of India’s IT Industry, which has been hit, seemingly hard, by the gale force winds of what seems to be The Trump Administration’s new approach towards the US Economy. The impact, as per two news reports I have read, is expected to be quite massive, at least in terms of Jobs: the job loss is expected to be 56,000 in one year, and upto 2,00,000 in three years. This is now more than terrifying... this is turning into a virtual bloodbath... if true {IF true}, then my question is how could we be so underprepared? The answer : the exclusive focus, the singleminded focus on current cash flows, current revenues, excluding any focus or analysis of the future trends, emergent risks, technology & consumer trends... we need to spend far, far more on investing in people at all levels, increasing their knowledge base, sensitising them to long term trends. The current manager is taught to think that reading is bookish; ...

THE PEOPLE PLACE PROJECT The People Place Project is an initiative to chronicle the NOW- the life and times we live in. Through a lens of people, we hope to pin together the narrative of how we have come to be here - our language, our thoughts, our attire, our structures - everything that defines us. We like to call it a mapping project - exploring  a city/place  with the stories of the people . That is what the website states on its landing page ; how is it {their objective} achieved is the question! This is done through chronicling the various people in selected cities; with one volume for each city. So far, they have done Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Shillong & Kochi. The current book under review is the chronicle on Ahmedabad : People Called Ahmedabad . The approach is surprising, to say the least; as also damned hard to review, as you shall see. But, curiously enough, this surprising approach holds more than enough pulling power in it for me to want to read the ot...

The election of Trump as POTUS had got the right wing in India in a celebratory mode; there were hopes of this event having a positive impetus on the Indo-US relationship. This hope was, at the outset, a wildly optimistic hope, given that Trump was elected on a protectionist rhetoric, a message of bringing jobs back to The USA; this was, however, ignored in the larger light of his views on terrorism as well as other factors, which seemed to indicate good tidings. In the approximately 100-odd days since his taking over as POTUS, however, early indicators have given enough reason for the more optimistic among us Indians to become far more realistic; Trump as a President has done exactly as he has promised – which is admittedly a surprise even to me. Frankly, on one side, it is good to see a politician walking the talk in the USA. That said, the other side of the equation has given rise to many, many deep rooted questions which need answering for us. His focus on creating Jobs i...