Reflections

  Does Merit Matter To Us? How many qualify amorally, creating a victim who lost to your dishonesty for each such case? For every person who qualifies through dishonest means, someone else pays the price — a victim of a system that let them get away with it. At the start of this article, let me be clear: I am 53+, and not dissatisfied with how my life turned out. I am perfectly happy - if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a single professional decision I made. But the recent events surrounding the NEET exam protests have forced me to look back at the past years, towards rumours, reports and claims   of paper leaks, job scams,   and gaming attempts. From Vyapam in MP to the repeated compromises of a multitude of entrance exams, we may be looking at a system in crisis. It is disgusting and frustrating even to me, a person who is not affected; not anymore. And yet I feel the shock of what happened – how must it be for those who are actually impacted, whet...

CONFORM, OR PERISH… IS THAT THE WAY? Why do we let the world dictate to us? Don't use that colour with this, dont mix x spice with y, don't keep this dish with that, dont wear that with this, dont do this, dont do that? So, in other words, we live by external rules? No individual expression? Our self worth is determined by what others think? Is that how thinkers and creaters imagine the unimaginable? Perhaps the biggest aspect of this is that the deleterious impact of this sad habit which percolates and permeates into every sphere of human activity, including profession and family both. LEARNING THE NEW, UNLEARNING THE OLD There is little, if any, scope for true individuality. How can we grow out of our current ability and realise potential if we limit ourselves by this pressure to suppress individuality? This is central to imagination, growth, development, and forward / upwards movement.   How can we unlearn the old and learn the new if we ourselves con...

Between You And Me – Flight To Societal Moksha by Atul Khanna Among the many books on society and politics that I have read and reviewed – the current one under review, “ Between You And Me – Flight To Societal Moksha by Atul Khanna ” is easily the hardest to classify, and even harder to rate. In fact, for some days after reading it, I could find no words to even pen a review, as I myself was not clear whether to praise it, or not to praise it! And yet, several days later, I still cannot shake off the contents of the book, that somehow, somewhere touched a deep chord, and a deep seated desire… THE BOOK I would rather not say a single word, and move onto Analysis and Review section of this article – this is a book that should be a discovery, something to be taken up with no idea of its contents and zero expectations; however, given that readers prefer some context, I hereby present a ridiculously short summary of the central concept of this tome. I sincerely advise the...

This is a short article; characteristically blunt–as is my habit, uncomfortable for some, old hat for others, and obvious for yet others. And yet, this – for want of a better word, extrapolation given below – is something that has most likely not occurred to most in the younger generation so far as I am aware. This is a time that is a harbinger of seminal change in Indian society, with its increasingly smaller and yet smaller sizes – which brings with it a set of challenges that are disturbing indeed. Today most of us have a decently large set of Brothers, Sisters and First Cousins; they are fun, at times nutty, at other times angry, and then at yet other times a massive support base for all of us. They are the extended family we take oftentimes for granted, they will always be there types. But critically, this situation as on current evidence, rests only for us – this generation. We are closely connected to our siblings; and we have large families. What of the next genera...

Another day, and another incident… one that shook me to the core of my deepest existence. I still shiver in shock and deep sadness at the upfront brutality of it. What is worse, it is so common to see – in many forms everywhere. A poor man comes to a store for a cup of tea; he is dirty & smelly, probably hasn’t bathed in a long time, and what does he get? A gets beaten and chased away, with a stool. Like an Animal. A man so poor, and yet – all we can see is how he discomfits us? We, who call ourselves Human Beings {Insaan}, cant see his pain, his haplessness, his abject status? Where is our pity? Where is our pity? Where is our feeling of mercy? Where is our feeling of insaniyat? Gone south for the winter?Those of us, like me, who feel bad – cant even speak up, due to the public furore, and the risk to self. That is the worst of it; it reduces us to the level of everyone around us, making us just like the rest – insensitive heartless people. Today, I am blaming mysel...

It was a chance meeting with Dr Ashish Tavkarr {Top Psychotherapist specializing in critical cases} at CCD Bhandarkar Road Pune that set off this train of thoughts; a look at the rising issues relating to the mind in Indian Society. This is not limited to Psychology, a hobby of mine – but extends to stress, lifestyle and mental issues. This chance meeting naturally veered to aspects to Psychological ailments that we Indians tend to suffer from. My questions to him were quite straightforward, though slightly off-the-beaten-track. My observations were on the line of the surprising rising trend of psychological issues in Indian Society, and the inability of the Indian Family unit to deal with these. As a matter of fact, my observation at the close of our chat was rather blunt : Psychotherapy is a rich-man’s illness, due to a variety of reasons. The key aspect here is psychological ailments have no biological reasons by-and-large in terms of vectors of the disease; and yet the...

Hindu terror {or similar terms like Extremism} – the buzzword of the past week or so. This is, at best, a topic that ensures passion – but we need to confront this allegation head-on as a society, for our own well-being. In the past week or so, two or three articles have appeared that open this debate; the author’s courage and forthrightness needs to be appreciated, that much is certain. Opinion is strictly divided into two camps – one says, with a marked lack of eloquence at times, what terror? The other side says, look around. As in much else, here too, I have a middle opinion – and no, I am not sitting on the fence on this one, as a couple of my friends and seniors have alleged in some cases IS THERE HINDU TERROR? So, we first need to examine whether or not there is Hindu Terror at all, in the first place, and then look at its dimensions. Now in this, sorry to state, there can actually be no debate : there is no terror so far as we know from what information is prese...