मेरे प्रभु!
मुझे इतनी ऊँचाई कभी मत देना
गैरों को गले न लगा सकूँ
इतनी रुखाई कभी मत देना।
My Lord,
Never let me climb so high
That I am unable to embrace another stranger,
Deliver me ever from such arrogance!
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an orator par excellence, a politician who defied all odds, and...
Life and poetry of Sant Kabir Das
Sant Kabir Das (1440-1518 circa) is one of the most famous and intelligent poets and saints of India. He was a social reformer as well with most of his writings an irony and satire on social issues. His name did justice to who...
I was fortunate enough to finish with my Vaishno Devi yatra just in time because immediately after the day I returned to Mumbai from Jammu, there was a lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has wreaked havoc in many parts of the world already.
When I came...
There is an old Japanese proverb: only staying active can make you want to live a hundred years.
Can you imagine a Japanese village island tucked away in the southern hinterlands of the country where 24.55 people per 1000,000 inhabitants have lived a hundred years and beyond? It is actually...
The door's adorned with mango leaves, doorstep with rangoli...
The main doorstep of the house is being adorned with fresh mango leaves. A garland of yellow and orange flowers are also being made for the doorway. Rangoli, or muggu as it is locally known is being drawn at the gate....
In the times of coronavirus, I managed to steal some time away from the usual humdrum of the city life to escape to the mountains of Jammu to take darshan of Mata Vaishno Devi, whose Bhawan is ensconced in the Trikuta mountain range, surrounded by mountains on all sides...
The Conflictorium: a space to deal with history of conflict in our lives
In a quaint little old Parsi building in Mirzapur, Ahmedabad is the Conflictorium - a space that has been set up to help people interact with the concept, history and presence of conflict in our everyday lives.
The...
One of India’s biggest springtime festivals, Gudi Padwa marks the beginning of the new year for communities in Maharashtra and the Konkan. The word padwa, derived from Sanskrit, refers to the first day of the lunar fortnight when the moon is at its brightest. Marathi and Konkani Hindus observe...
In the wake of the recent and rapid outbreak of the coronavirus, and the World Health Organisation's declaration of the disease COVID-19 as a pandemic, various countries have taken precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus. The most widely recommended and followed precautionary measure has been that...
Before there were plates, there were banana leaves. This uniquely Indian tradition of eating on a banana leaf goes back thousands of years, before we used plastic, steel, or indeed anything else to make plates. Easily disposable and environmentally friendly, many Indian communities continue to follow this tradition today,...
Who comes to mind when you think of the term ‘style icon’?
For many of us, the answer to that question might just be Sonam Kapoor for her array of dazzling gowns or Vidya Balan for her seemingly endless supply of beautiful sarees. These women are fittingly known for their...
Gudi Padwa is the lunar new year celebrated by the Maharashtrian community in India. On this day, families come together to hoist a gudi and pray for a prosperous year. The entire community participates in swagat yatras organised locally to welcome the new year. And then gorge on a lunch of...
Sitting in Katra, at the foothills of the Trikuta mountain range, surrounded by the valleys and snowcapped peaks, amidst the passing clouds, is an ideal setting to pen your poetic thoughts or compose a poem - and so here is the poem I composed some time ago.
A dialogue: I,...
Dear readers,
Wow! February rushed past - did anyone notice it had an extra day? But we are in March now and we find ourselves in the midst of an epidemic that has become an international concern - the coronavirus, which has affected people in many countries, while some have...
Most of us who are fond of travelling have been bitten by the travel bug at one point in time or another; we often throw caution to the wind, pack our bags and take off to our dream destinations.
However, these days a different kind of bug, or virus, as...
