First posted October 25, 2011 I’ve learned that you can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. (age 6) I’ve learned that I like my teacher because she cries when we sing Silent Night (age 7) I’ve learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are… Read More What I have learned (humans aged 6 to 92)
Sreedeep Bhattacharya What are the essential ingredients of a pristine, romantic association? Introduction, anticipation, initiation, expectation, complexity, eccentricity, intimacy, reward and recognition. Not to forget the garnish of conflicts and contradictions; pathos and pleasure; tantrums and traumas; itches and aches—and, possibly, a lot more. Whereas these elements may have remained somewhat unaltered, there seems to… Read More In The Postmodern World, Intimacy Has Become A Strange Thing
YOGENDRA YADAV Has the Bharat Jodo Yatra lowered communal tempers? I ask this question with some trepidation. I have been a data person for a long time. I have asked for hard evidence for any cause-effect claim. And this question does not admit hard evidence. At least not in such a short time span. Yet… Read More Has Bharat Jodo Yatra lowered communal tempers or is it naive optimism?
First posted Friday, March 18, 2016 NB: This is the text of my keynote address to the Eighth East-West Inter-cultural Relations Conference held at Ramjas College, the University of Delhi, on March 17, 2016. The details of the conference may be read here A pdf file of the address is downloadable here – DS Satyagraha – An answer to modern nihilism… Read More Satyagraha: An answer to modern nihilism
NB: Goa was my dear mother’s birthplace and childhood home. The events described below took place not far from her village, Saligaon. This is a beautiful story of life and fate. I have nothing to add to it except to wish this couple many years of the togetherness brought about by their chance encounter in… Read More Love and serendipity in Goa
Trent Zimmerman As we farewell 2022, many of the world’s citizens will be hoping for a better new year. It is hard to look back on the past year – indeed couple of years – without a high degree of angst about the direction of our global community. We have been battered by a pandemic… Read More I find hope in people who show the best of humanity
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett A baby looking at a Christmas tree in a shopping mall in Shanghai, China, 25 December 2020. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA This mad, chaotic singular year, I have felt the meaning of Christmas more than perhaps any other. I am the very essence of joy to the world, peace on earth, good tidings etc,… Read More I’ve always felt a tug of sadness at Christmas – until this year
By Dave Kindy’ On Christmas Eve 1944, heavy snow blanketed the Hürtgen Forest in Germany, near the Belgian border. Inside a tiny cabin deep in the woods, 12-year-old Fritz Vincken and his mother, Elisabeth, listened to warplanes and artillery shells as the Battle of the Bulge neared its climax. As they tried to make the most… Read More U.S. and German soldiers shared Christmas Eve dinner at height of WWII
Max Porter As I lie down under a 2,000-year-old small-leaved lime coppice, I contemplate what is truly sacred This is me trying to have a sacred encounter with the 2,000-year-old small-leaved lime coppice at Westonbirt Arboretum. Because of my terrible hunched posture I’m always looking for an opportunity to lie down and alleviate the pain in my… Read More In an ancient forest, I look for peace, but instead I find Happy the puppy
NB: For any mass campaign to focus on love and harmony is a welcome change from the atmosphere of communal animus and the non-stop sneering which has become the hallmark of Indian politics under the Modi government. Thanks are due to everyone involved in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. DS The Bharat Jodo Yatra began on… Read More T. M. Krishna on Bharat Jodo Yatra
After the truth-shower 