Love, Life and Happiness

The long dance-duel of democracy has finally ended. The rulers and wanting-to-be-rulers have now decided to rest after a no-holds-barred battle is over. The unapologetic political parties and apologetic, righteous neutral commentators, jumping in and out of the discourse. In fact, the case for the commentators was the most curious, under the thinly wrapped veneer of neutrality and forward-thinking lurked the opportunity to shoot and scoot.   This was a campaign which made people see through the charade of intellectual bourgeoisie, who pretended to be neutral but treaded the thin line between the public and private. Thankfully, the campaign ended and hopefully we are left with few things still left to believe in.   Narendra Modi has a task cut out for him. Swearing-in happens tomorrow evening. My view he has things to do, new paths to tread.   He has invited the SAARC countries, all of them to attend. That to me is a good beginning. It begins the relation a new level of eq

This is a terribly confused weather at this time in Delhi. The summers keep on attempting to make way into the scenario but are ousted by adamant rains twice every week. Last week saw one such rain lashing out on in its fury over the capital. The following morning was blessed with the cold calm of dead devastation in the park, with fallen trees and broken branches. The jogging track was full of broken branches and dead leaves. A cold, encouraging wind saw people turning up in the neighborhood park. I finished my five-miles run which I was pretty happy and contended about, even going half a mile beyond the targeted five. It isn’t an easy task from long out-of-activity body, but then, exercising at young age has probably helped. That and some hard-headed stubbornness of character. The tired heart leaps up and rises to the calling. I have to fool it at times in to believing that I will give up after two miles and then I cajole it to go another one mile and then another. I reme

Fatherhood is not an accident of nature. I had once posited on my Facebook page and many friends seconded that opinion. You do not become a father by having a progeny. It slowly dawns over you as you struggle to understand what all it entails.  You rush to the airport as the flight is about to close, and your five year old wanders like a little rabbit from the bedroom, eyes still closed and you forget the work, forget the flight. You walk to her and kneel down on your knees and kiss her on the still-closed, sleepy eyes with the sacred dedication of a worshipper. You start to understand fatherhood at such moments. It is not a truth like Newton's apple which falls at some recognizable moment on your head. You learn it slowly. It is a series of moments when you do things which never imagined yourself to be able to do.  I remember the cold chill which ran through my spine when my seven-month pregnant wife tripped while getting down from the car. I almost wept but there was so