I like birds
In Karate, one of the most important lessons you learn is to take an ass-kicking. You understand that you need to pick yourself up and move on. Before every session, you socialize with your opponents. They are your friends. You like each other. You also take pleasure in roundhouse-kicking them during a sparring match. Because... Continue Reading →
I had a pet Pomeranian called Terry. We grew up in the same household for 12 years. He came to us when he was two weeks old. Instantly, we became best friends.
I think Con Air, a movie about a plane hijacking, has some of the worst dialogues ever. But I have seen it over 30 times. I can’t help myself. It’s like stopping by a highway accident to assess the carnage. A cat-and-mouse game we play with our minds. We may grimace at the sight of... Continue Reading →
It is tough to pigeonhole Indian metropolitans. They are Dickensian by nature. Often, their identities shift, like tectonic plates, under the pretext of urbanization. All the while, they play a game of cat-and-mouse with the past, whether good, bad or ugly. They are works in progress or experiments in terror, depending on how you see... Continue Reading →
Stress isn't a loud-mouthed villain. Very often you can’t hear its war cry. You just don’t see it coming. Stress can be a cold and calculated sociopath. It won’t catch you in a bear hug and squeeze the life out of you. It waits for you to go to sleep. It climbs into the bed and... Continue Reading →
I have been thinking a lot about death since Raj passed away last year. I have been hesitant to write about him because sharing such personal details feels like distributing emotional pornography. And what sort of meaningful closure would involve sharing its most intimate parts on a content distribution platform? I feel sick, but I... Continue Reading →
Greater Racket-Tailed Drongos are whirling dervishes who frequent foothills. Black is not just the color of their plumage. It runs through their soul. And it gives them an air of magnificence. They are cloaked in shadowy panache. In human beings though, this end of the color spectrum is treated with ignorance and superficiality. I find discrimination by skin color to... Continue Reading →
My 5-year-old niece – Sasha – drew this for me after she had suggested that I might have a cupcake for a heart. I do not think she meant anything profound by it. It was not an affectionate suggestion either. She said it because, at that moment, she felt it was fun to imagine her uncle... Continue Reading →
On Thursday morning, at about 9:30 AM, India launched the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MK III (GSLV MK III) - a powerful new rocket along with a prototype landing capsule. The launch took place at the Satish Dhawan Space Center - India’s spaceport on the Sriharikota Island, near the city of Chennai. My knowledge of... Continue Reading →
I had written this after the Uber incident last December. An unfortunate time when the Indian government decided to ban a taxi app, pass the paneer tikka and inform the masses that safety has been restored on our streets. I re-posted it after reading a recent report about one of the accused in the horrific 2012 Delhi incident in which four guys who brutally gang-raped... Continue Reading →
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