The Middle View More

The India-Pakistan conflict remains unresolved despite cultural exchange and shared history. Personal experiences highlight warm hospitality and commonalities, contrasting with political tensions. India's economic strength necessitates strategic restraint, while Pakistan needs economic repair. The author hopes for peace and an end to bloodshed along the border. (This summary is generated via AI.)

The author, a researcher with Pakistani Muslim friends, observed diverse perspectives on Bakrid. Contrary to common belief, many Muslims, including vegetarians, do not sacrifice animals. They believe the focus should be on sacrificing ego, not an animal. This highlights the ignorance fueling inter-communal conflict. (This summary is generated via AI.)

In the summer of 1953, the author moved from Poona to Delhi and was enrolled in the Convent of Jesus and Mary (CJM). Initially, she was met with resistance from the principal, but her father's persistence and her good academic record secured her admission. She was then placed in Class V under the strict and critical Miss Rondo, who immediately branded her a 'dunce.' Due to a misunderstanding, the author was placed in Class III, where she thrived and was warmly welcomed, achieving good grades. However, she was placed back in Miss Rondo's Class V. Miss Rondo imposed strict rules, including fines and humiliating punishments for clumsiness. Despite the author's efforts to improve and her participation in school activities, Miss Rondo consistently belittled and condemned her, refusing to acknowledge her talents. This contrasted sharply with the kindness and support the author received from her teacher Miss Saldana, creating a clear division in her childhood memories of teachers. (This summary is generated via AI.)

This article reflects on a childhood lived with a built-in environmental consciousness, contrasting it with the modern emphasis on convenience. The author reminisces about a time when reusable glass bottles for drinks and milk, along with cloth shopping bags, were the norm, creating a cyclical and low-waste lifestyle. Reusing items like jars, newspapers, and old clothes was also commonplace. However, the article notes a shift towards single-use plastics and disposable packaging, driven by convenience, which ultimately led to a disconnect from the environment. The author concludes that while environmental awareness is now prominent, the practices of the past, such as reusing and reducing waste, offered a simpler, more sustainable way of life that we should consider returning to. (This summary is generated via AI.)

GETTING my three-year-old daughter ready for school each morning in Chandigarh brings a wave of nostalgia, taking me back to my childhood in Shimla. Just as my parents did for me, my husband and I wake up early to prepare...

OLD buildings, be it monuments or ordinary houses, have something interesting hidden in them that gets unravelled with the passage of time. I experienced it during a visit to Amritsar, my hometown. The trip took me back more than half...

RECENTLY, there was a nasty voltage fluctuation in my house. Lights flickered, fans stuttered, and one by one, the circuit-breakers started tripping. I quickly unplugged most of the appliances, but the fridge — poor fellow — was packed with groceries,...

ADDRESSING economists and political leaders last week, Prof Jeffrey Sachs, a renowned international economist, condemned America’s new international trade policy. Essentially, President Donald Trump claims that since most countries export more goods (in value) to the US than they import...

NESTLED in the rugged terrain of Sikkim lies not just a strategic military zone but also a region steeped in mystery, faith and folklore. During my tenure in the Eastern Himalayas as Officer Commanding of 214 Field Workshop and Divisional...

SOME houses don’t age, they wait — like old friends by the window, holding their breath for your knock. I did not step into a temple or dip my hands into sacred waters. Yet when I returned to my ancestral...

I am in my late seventies. Although my wife is older than me and hard of hearing, she never admits it — as is her wont. Ours was ‘love at first sight’ that blossomed into marriage. Having an undying passion...

DURING his 1949 visit to the US, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru met a young man in New York, Rana Man Singh. Rana was then learning the ropes from a great architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Nehru urged him to return to India...

HOME is a deceptively simple yet evocative word. Simply put, it’s an emotion in itself. Our earliest memories of home are mostly about mom’s warm caress, welcoming smell of home-cooked meals, laughter, friends, family and carefree days. These memories sustain...

THE Sargodha airbase and Kirana Hills in Pakistan have been in the news following the launch of Operation Sindoor. I spent some time in that area during my childhood. My grandfather was allotted 50 acres in the Sargodha Canal Colony,...

GETTING our hair cropped at the local salon was a monthly ritual during our childhood in the 1960s. Our Christian school required pupils to have short, well-trimmed hair. My four brothers and I would be told by our parents a...

NEWS of our airstrikes deep inside Pakistan trickled in early in the morning on May 7. TV channels repeatedly flashed the little they knew. The red tracers on the screen, racing to ‘neutralise’ enemy drones, reminded me of an incident...

AS we drove around beautiful Mauritius, I was intrigued by the images of a bird in malls, shops, parks and on signboards. When I asked our guide, he smiled and said: “Oh, that’s the dodo.” He waxed eloquent about this...

WRITING about Kashmir, I don’t know where to begin. Should I talk about the historic hydroelectric power station set up in 1905 at Mohra village near Uri by Maharaja Pratap Singh, or tell the story of the nearby temple whose...

LIVING in a north Indian city that has high-rise buildings and high air pollution levels, I often become nostalgic about my childhood in Kerala. There was a river near the village that flowed throughout the year in the absence of...

IN 2020, more than 120 people died in Punjab’s Majha region after consuming spurious liquor. Last year, a hooch tragedy claimed about 20 lives in Sangrur district. And now a similar tragedy has occurred at Majitha in Amritsar district, resulting...

DURING my posting in the eastern part of the country, where the sun sets around 5 pm, the bar would open at seven — for exactly an hour. That hour used to be blissful; the tiring moments of the day...

MEMORIES of the 1971 India-Pakistan war, particularly the blackouts, still haunt me. The battleground was far away, but the fear of air attacks gripped us. NCC cadets of the junior division in my school at Charkhi Dadri (Haryana) were drafted...

PANDIT Sadhu Ram was one of my teachers at the Taleem-ul-Islam High School (later upgraded to senior secondary) in Qadian, Gurdaspur. He left an indelible impression on his students. Lanky and hatchet-faced, he had small but bright eyes, and tiny...

MOMENTS before the sirens blared and the blackout began, I received a WhatsApp message: “The child asked what year I was born and I said 1978. She said that’s not a real year, years start with 20…’ This message meant...

IT was a couple of weeks after our marriage, and my husband and I were still basking in the glow of newlywed bliss — the kind of glow that makes you think nothing could possibly go wrong. During a visit...