Reflections

Is a border one to be crossed, or feared? Or one that’s imaginary and permeable?

The colonial yoke was never just about conquest. It was about rewriting the imagination — training us to doubt ourselves and worship elsewhere.

Patience is a natural and necessary precondition to be human, to get along with life itself

TV channels may no longer have to repeatedly use Kohli’s footage to garner TRPs. Gill’s disarming smile can launch a thousand products

This city hears over 20 languages spoken every single day. It welcomes everyone and no one in equal measure

My avian friends are of two types: the first are the permanent residents and then there are the seasonal visitors

In the Indian tradition, a guru is venerable figure who shares the knowledge and potentialities acquired by him with his disciples

‘Bad working conditions’, exploitation led to revolt

I hope he has it in him to bind the world with threads of humanity & brotherhood

We were undoubtedly quite a sight, locomoting and balancing ourselves on light-weight elbow crutches, but we learnt to juggle with a drink, a cigarette, crutches and of course the good or undamaged leg!

There can be no one standard of beauty and if you believe in yourself, the world believes in you

When people speak of how Buddhism was driven out of India, they often overlook the possibility that it could have simply moved out to lands of receptive kings

South Africa has shown that national integration can be achieved through sports, even if unusual methods have to be used

At any given time, I always have 10 or 15 unread books on my shelves and feel the richer for it

An era came to an end with the passing of Captain Mohan Singh Kohli, the renowned mountaineer who led the epoch-making Indian Everest Expedition in 1965

Remembering the sense of smell and touch that was once an inseparable part of every Indian’s life

Embedded deep inside, these never ever go away

An excerpt from ‘Yaadgah: Memories of Srinagar’

Joining the visible and invisible dots

It may seem strange to today's moviegoers that men and women were seated separately in distinct sections of the hall, divided by a 4-foot-high curtain

A cigarette comes in handy as an economic indicator: a shift in the brand is a faithful index of the cost of living

Sewa is a spiritual discipline inculcated on the path to the Divine. It can be of three types: Tan, Mann, and Dhan

Frederick Forsyth, Le Carre, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follet — in a league of their own, with bestsellers guaranteed

I have often wondered why we Indians find it so difficult to stand in orderly lines or await our turn

A brash, if not brave, new world has overtaken our lives and swamped the town