The Middle

IN 2010, a professional assignment led to a strange encounter. I had gone to meet a prominent industrialist, known for his groundbreaking success and global ambitions. Having a prior appointment, I arrived at his residence, an opulent estate that spoke...

IN the tapestry of Indian mythology, gods and goddesses are not just celestial beings but embodiments of universal principles — creation, preservation, destruction and accumulation of knowledge. In the digital age, artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity...

I was just seven years old when a series of turbulent events happened over 77 years ago in a couple of villages in Montgomery district (now Sahiwal) of west Punjab. One day, I was whiling away the hours with my...

IT was fascinating for me to watch bureaucrats in action several decades ago. They borrowed most of their mannerisms and idiosyncrasies from the British. When the colonial rulers left the country, it was hoped that the Indian bureaucracy would serve...

Vivek Shukla FROM the clamour of Janpath or Akbar Road, a turn onto Tees January Marg is like stepping into another world. A sense of profound stillness settles upon you. The silence is almost absolute, in stark contrast to the...

AS US President Donald Trump hollered about acquiring Greenland and adding other pieces of land to the American kitty, I was reminded of the childhood game called Trade — better known as Monopoly today. The board game was very popular...

AT a green energy conference held recently, a speaker waxed eloquent on solar power and fuel-efficient vehicles of the tiny South Pacific island of Tonga. While industry delegates listened with rapt attention, my mind dreamily veered to another tonga, the...

I was born in Sultanwind village of Amritsar district in 1928. Few people know that Sultanwind residents played a significant role in the freedom struggle. Many of them were killed or injured in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Recently, I had...

THE recent break-in at the apartment of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan was, by all accounts, a shoddy job. Thieves of yore would not have touched him with a barge pole! My career in the police taught me that professional...

GIVING alms to beggars does little to help them in the long run; instead, it only worsens this socioeconomic problem. If we want a beggar-free world, skill training and job creation must be prioritised. Poverty is generally the cause and...

THE stampede at Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad last month brought back memories of my first experience of viewing a movie in a cinema hall in my hometown, Tiruchirappalli, several decades ago. Having appeared for the all-India higher secondary examination in...

I grew up in Chandigarh in the late 1990s, when virtually every birthday party was organised at home. We had the luxury of living in spacious bungalows with verandahs and lush-green lawns. Musical chairs, ‘pass the parcel’ and treasure hunts...

IT started as a tranquil afternoon, the kind that tempts you to believe the universe has finally aligned in your favour. My government vehicle, helmed by a driver whose calm could rival a monk’s, breezed through the winding mountain roads...

A popular song by Diljit Dosanjh has this line, “Main karda fly firda, kayi muh chakki firde ne taah nu...” (I fly high, while many people do nothing but look skyward). Gen Z often shares this number on social media...

The  year was 1980, when good English-medium schools were few and far between. For my parents, securing admission for me at Bishop Cotton School (BCS), Shimla, was a matter of immense pride. Coming from Hoshiarpur, they dreamt of giving me...

My family joined me during the summer vacation while I was commanding a regiment in Ladakh. One day, my adjutant brought a shiny black newborn kitten from an outpost he had visited. My nine-year-old daughter adopted this cute little living...

Albert Einstein told the world, “Everything is relative”. A clever tweak to this truism popped up on my phone the other day: “For some people who amass power and wealth for their relatives, ‘relative is everything’.” I chuckled at this...

IN recent weeks, we witnessed live telecast of the state funerals of two uncommon world leaders, Dr Manmohan Singh and Jimmy Carter. Both statesmen were equally renowned for their humility, integrity and simplicity. Dr Singh served for 10 years as...

GOA, long regarded as a bustling destination for foreigners, is witnessing an unsettling shift. Silent shacks and nearly deserted beaches are ringing alarm bells. A couple of months ago, an entrepreneur claimed on social media that foreign tourist arrivals in...

SHARING a packet of freshly roasted groundnuts, my friend and I sat on a bench just opposite the bank branch near Kali Bari, Shimla, basking in the mellow sunlight. The day was bright as winter had not yet arrived, but...

Every time a patient suffering from a chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disorder or, for that matter, obesity consults me, I always ask, “At what time do you go to bed?” And the reply usually startles me. Most of...

When World War II broke out in 1939, Subedar Richhpal Ram of 4 Rajputana Rifles was on two months’ leave at his village Barda in Gurgaon district. Barda was known in the region as ‘Faujion ka gaon’ since almost every...

This well-maintained museum showcases weapons of mass destruction such as bomber aircraft, tanks, chemical weapons and artillery equipment left by the US forces when Vietnam earned freedom in 1975

My parents aren’t just any regular socialites. They are professional MBAs — Marriage & Bhog Attendees. Weekends for them are a blur of bhogs, high tea soirées and posh shok sabhas — and that’s just the beginning. As soon as...

FROM the clerk at the lowest rung of the administration to the Prime Minister, everyone has to deal with files. How efficiently one handles them often separates a good functionary from the average one. Early in my practical training as...