The Middle

THOSE who want to study modern-day relationships closely should forget surveys and interviews. They should simply examine people’s phone contact lists. Behind every disguised name lies a small story — of affection, fear, mischief and sheer creativity. A smartphone is...

AS the world awaits the return of Artemis II astronauts after their lunar flyby voyage, I am reminded of my chance encounter with Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut who became the first human to travel into space 65 years ago. I...

CHILDHOOD was a magical phase filled with small joys, big excitement and zero EMI stress. One of its highlights was receiving an invitation to a classmate’s birthday party. Back then, there were no fancy e-cards or WhatsApp invites — just...

IN the 1990s, a mobile phone was not something you carried in your pocket. It was a rumour, a luxury, almost a fantasy. In our small town of Qadian (Gurdaspur), many of us had not beheld this device. I first...

AMID the global attention on the Strait of Hormuz and merchant mariners, I am reminded of my voyage through the Strait of Malacca. For an Army officer, a leap from the deserts of Rajasthan to the high seas was a...

MOST people count sheep to fall asleep. I spend late evenings counting steps in a dimly lit courtyard. The other day, while my brain played a high-definition director’s cut of a news story about a Himachali boy who had wrestled...

IN a dimly lit hostel corridor in Moscow, a young Cuban woman in my class looked at me one evening and said, “You are not a man.” It was during my early months in the Soviet Union. For a young...

THE doorbell rang around 10 pm. I wondered who the visitor was at that late hour, and that too in the midst of winter. With a smile, I greeted an elderly uncle from the neighbourhood. He was holding something in...

IT was a crisp winter night in a faraway Army cantonment, the kind where the fog settles low and the air smells of pine and discipline. But on that evening, the stiff upper lip was relaxed, and the uniforms were...

MY friendship with Hari Singh, fondly known as the “Gypsy King”, began during our boarding school days in the mid-1970s. We were barely nine years old then and our world was simple and unhurried. There was something about him that...

MARK Twain wryly remarked, “April 1, All Fools’ Day, is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.” Ironically, at a time when deception through fake news and online fraud...

THERE was a time when a torn shirt signalled trouble rather than a trend. A rip in one’s kurta summoned a needle and thread, often accompanied by a watchful grandmother whose stitching skills bordered on the miraculous. With astonishing speed,...

MY wife holds a black belt in taekwondo, while I have a mixed record in online chess. Hitting the gym is not part of my dreams either. Still, I couldn’t oppose her proposal of trekking up to the Everest Base...

FOR a family that has been keeping dogs for almost nine decades, love for dogs comes naturally to me. My parents and their siblings have had dogs for as long as I can remember. Therefore, when I inherited my maternal...

I WAS recently walking on a crowded road where scooters, bikes, cars and jeeps were jostling for space. There was an open-top SUV Jeep in which two young men were sitting, having some drinks, I presume hard ones, in a...

AS we move forward in life — chasing dreams, pursuing careers — we often realise that our journey owes a lot to parental love: selfless, patient and rich with ideals that continue to guide us, even in silence. As we...

HONESTY is not merely a virtue; it is a silent promise made to society. For government employees, this promise carries even greater weight, because the power they hold is not personal — it belongs to the people. These thoughts lingered...

MY refusal to approve a large credit proposal led to what bankers politely call a “punishment posting”. I was transferred from Srinagar to Jodhpur, and that too to my parent bank-sponsored Regional Rural Bank, where an agitation by staffers had...

THE execution of Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar on March 23, 1931, remains a defining moment in India’s struggle against colonial rule. Their martyrdom continues to spur the spirit of patriotism and sacrifice. Beyond his revolutionary actions, Bhagat...

THE recent annual celebrations at the Ramakrishna Mission, Chandigarh, transported me five decades back to Kanyakumari, the confluence of three oceans in a majestic embrace. As I had stood there, retracing the steps of a spiritual giant, Swami Vivekananda, I...

AT a recent family get-together, I found myself a silent witness to scenes that were dazzling as well as disquieting. I saw uncles and aunts in their autumnal composure; in-laws bearing faintly diplomatic smiles; grandchildren radiant with heedless vitality; and...

SOMETIMES, I find myself wandering back to my childhood in Kalka. I was in Class VIII at the government school, a modest building at one end of town, while we lived at the other end in the Railway Colony. Each...

IN my Bengal Sappers unit, passing a Hindi proficiency test is mandatory for every young aspirant keen to go up the ladder from Lance Corporal to Corporal. It is not merely a formality but a stepping stone to professional growth....

RAMZAN in the walled city of Delhi is a great festival. One Ramzan evening produced a small episode of confusion that later became a favourite story in the neighbourhood. That year, the city had seen a few incidents of crude...

BACK in 1952, I came face to face with Bhai Jodh Singh, then Principal of Khalsa College, Amritsar. Peering above his pince-nez, he dunked his pen into the ink pot and signed my admission form — without even asking me...