‘Barn’s burnt down – now I can see the moon’
I write this column with some hesitation, since many may regard it a bit preachy or elitist.
1y ago
Post-Covid musings: After the deluge
Now that we have stepped into a new year, it may be time to take a brief pause from our hectic schedule.
1y ago
Salma Khan: A mind without fear and a head held high
She gave visibility to the invisible by exposing the exclusion of women from development activities.
2y ago
Choosing the Slow Lane
Recently, I have been reminiscing about my music guru, the late Kanika Banerjee (known to her intimate circle as Mohordi).
2y ago
Reawakening
I begin with an apology to my readers for my long absence. Covid played havoc with our lifestyle and livelihoods. Even then, we could make choices still within limited parameters.
2y ago
Begum Sufia Kamal: A moral hero
Today, after a period of hiatus, I have once again taken up my pen (metaphorically) to remember and celebrate a hero—a woman of courage and integrity who changed the world, not with fire and fury but with her soft touch.
4y ago
Isolation and solitude: Life in the time of corona
It has only been a month of isolation, yet it feels like “One hundred years of solitude”.
4y ago
When will America be ready?
As my daughter and I drove to the polling booth last week to vote at the Democratic Primaries in the United States, I asked: “So,
4y ago
December 16, 2019
Passage to freedom
Forty-eight years have elapsed since we overthrew the yoke of exploitation and oppression and gained our Independence, through blood, sweat, and tears.
December 4, 2019
The Age of Alternate Reality
Common sense tells us that life’s experiences should help us acquire a degree of certainty about most issues. However, I seem to be the exception to this conventional wisdom.
October 15, 2019
The ‘seditious heart’
I often wonder about the psyche and motivation of people who choose to resist unfairness, inequity and tyranny at a great personal cost. And I don’t mean luminaries like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr., but the unsung heroes who feel it their bounden duty to act in the public interest and ensure that future generations benefit from their selfless acts of moral valour.
September 22, 2019
Revisiting our social structures
In the midst of all the political chaos and confusion reigning in our world today, we are perhaps overlooking an important issue—the basic fibre of our social structure is going through a tectonic shift. One would have thought that, over time, class barriers would be
August 22, 2019
Seeing life anew
As some of you may have noticed, I have been absent from the writing scene for about six months. No, I haven’t retired from column writing—rather it has been a forced hiatus. Forced by an eye condition that struck without any prior warning. The affliction that stole part of my right eyesight came stealthily and silently—a white fog refusing to be dislodged obstructed my vision.
January 24, 2019
When being wrong can feel right
I never imagined that most of the values and precepts I learned while growing up would become dated and rendered almost irrelevant during my lifetime. In particular, the lessons in humility that our parents and teachers taught us seem to have simply gone out of the window.
December 2, 2018
The Rise of Hate
In the “long 18th century” (1685-1815), European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the course of a movement referred to by its participants as the Age of Reason, or simply the Enlightenment.
October 11, 2018
America's moment of self-reckoning?
The past week has been tumultuous and agonising for most Americans. A week of speculation, media hype, and political and personal
September 16, 2018
A champion in triumph or defeat
Years ago, when I first migrated to the United States, I was asked to read Robert Ringer's Winning through Intimidation as part of my acculturation process.
August 28, 2018
Something to reflect upon
Today, I choose to address an issue that has generated years of soul-searching resulting in an inner struggle to draw the line between right and wrong.
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