I had a strange dream last night. I dreamt that I was dreaming. What did I dream that I was dreaming about? I will come to that in just a moment. The moot point is, why could I simply not have had a dream? That is what most normal people have, when they hit the …
Author Archives: sureshsubrahmanyan
Here we go again
The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. Joseph Stalin. If you are a responsible citizen who believes in the democratic process and who takes pride in voting governments in and governments out, depending on their performance during their tenure in power, take a bow. Always assuming …
Wailing and gnashing
I know it was you, Rohit. You broke my heart. With apologies to Godfather Michael Corleone. India is out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, to accord the tournament its proper nomenclature. The word cricket is missing from the title, but that is typical of those who run this game worldwide. They think everyone …
Two cheers for Permacrisis
It is that time of the year again. You might even call it the brief silly season when some dictionary or the other decides to name a word that should be anointed with the grand title of ‘Britain’s Word of the Year.’ Since we are discussing the English language, what Britain thinks today, the world …
Larry, King at No.10
By now, the whole world knows that Rishi Sunak, at the ripe young age of 42, is the youngest Prime Minister that the United Kingdom has had over the past 216 years. If you are not aware of this earth-shattering, historic statistic, you must be in deep meditation in the dark, damp caves of the …
Once is not enough
How well he’s read, to reason against reading! William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost. I have long since come to the profound conclusion that really good books ought to be read more than once if one is to derive full value from all the riches of the language that the author has sought to so joyously …
Taking smokers down a peg
Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times. Mark Twain How times have changed. Not all that long ago, actually it was a long time ago in the 70s, when I first started working in an advertising agency in Calcutta, smoking was all the …
‘Hello, this is Vande Mataram’
Those of you who follow current affairs in India will doubtless have heard that a recent pronouncement by the big nobs in the Maharashtra Government has declared that, henceforth all telephone calls to government offices or officials will be greeted by a cheery Vande Mataram, presumably spoken and not sung. In other words, it’s goodbye …
Rediscovering the joys of shopping
I went window shopping today. I bought four windows. British comedian Tommy Cooper. A few weeks ago, I had sounded off on the unintended perils of online shopping, regretting our inability to actually shop at shops, if you get my drift. All that is fast changing. What with the pandemic and everything, for the past …
King Federer I
Ever since Roger Federer announced that he is hanging up his racket for good, there has been an avalanche of goodwill messages from all over the world wishing the maestro well. Copious tears have been shed. That was only to be expected, given all that the great man has achieved in the world of tennis. …
Suresh's Corner 