Do you have a culture junkie in your midst?
As a person who has lived and worked in several countries around the world, I have always believed in the need to be ready to accept (or even embrace) elements of the culture of the...
View ArticleA balanced road to reform for India
The Union Budget has long been regarded as the landmark policy document of the Government of India; one that painted a comprehensive road map of what the government planned to do, even as it tried...
View ArticleRe-living an act of terror. Why should we have different approaches to justice?
Driving back home yesterday evening a strange realization dawned upon me as I stared at my reflection in a car window at a traffic light: other than the bereavement of my parents, there are few...
View ArticleIndia 2013. A time for New Year resolutions?
Come end December and people the world over start to think about the year gone by – the highs, the lows, the achievements, the failures, things to laugh about, things to worry about, new friends...
View ArticleMandatorily philanthropic?
A shade over two decades ago, while conducting a study at Tata Steel, I remember being astounded by the work the steel major was doing in the area of community relations, social development and tribal...
View ArticleBy Heart it.
There are many examples of Indian English that one comes across in schools across the country. One of the most outrageous uses of the language, for a number of reasons, is ‘by heart it’ –...
View ArticleRun!
I always find a visit to the gym very interesting, but seriously frustrating. As the husband of a self-acclaimed ‘people-watcher’ I have over the past 15-years come to appreciate and hone the skills I...
View ArticleIs there room for social etiquette in India?
Frankly, I am tired of holding doors open for others to pass through before me when I see them approaching from the other side of a room. I am equally tired of stopping doors from...
View ArticleConfessions of a ‘shopaphobe’ husband
I must admit that I haven’t a clue what the antonym of shopaholic is. I tried looking up the word or a similar expression on Google and in the dictionary, but couldn’t find anything even...
View ArticleTake a break from life.
Three years ago my wife and I took a decision: rather than working ourselves into the ground – literally and metaphorically – and spending all our money on healthcare, we would use the same money...
View Article“To sleep or not to sleep…
…that is the question”, I asked my somewhat bewildered friends rather emphatically one evening after dinner a couple of years ago. Fresh from a programme that laboured the merits of consensus building...
View ArticleCan we ask for a little more sensitivity please?
If you were asked, “What do X-men actor Jim Byrnes, glamour model and former Lady McCartney, Heather Mills, Everest summiteer, Tom Whittaker, Jazz diva, Ella Fitzgerald, champion surfer, Bethany...
View ArticleWhy should we politicize every human tragedy?
The horrendous mid-day meal tragedy has brought to the fore numerous questions around access, affordability, morality and quality control. After all, however laudable the intention, and in this case,...
View ArticleDubai and lessons in organization building.
As the plane took its last lazy swoop towards the runway I looked out of the window again. Nothing much had changed. All we had seen over the past 15 minutes was mounds of sand...
View ArticleShould we find a way to better balance our people exports?
Recently, I was asked to speak at a business conclave in the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. After a rather tiring day and grueling evening, I walked up to the concierge at the Soaltee and asked...
View ArticleNot under my roof!
One of the biggest problems of travelling frequently across time zones is that your body clock at times fails to recognize which time zone you are in. Consequently, there are times when you tend to...
View ArticleG1253
When we moved to Delhi – barely 7-days after we got married – a decade and a half ago, my choice of home was dictated largely by a couple of considerations: my wife had never...
View ArticleLooking back wistfully…with perhaps a tinge of envy.
Recently, we spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon at a friend’s penthouse that overlooks a lake in the suburbs of maximum city. I say ‘wonderful’ not only because of the rapier wit that our hosts and...
View ArticleWhy change is sometimes crucial
How often have you talked of people stating that a particular place has a ‘marvelous, old-worldly charm about it’ or that it ‘feels exactly the way I remember it from 20 years ago’? Well, I...
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