I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card. Laura Bush. The library card: Laura Bush, former first lady of the United States of America hit the nail on the head in assigning to this precious ticket such a generous accolade. Madam Bush’s claim to fame was not merely as the …
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The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Albert Einstein In the year 1966, when I had just started my university education, and Hollywood films were very much a part of our entertainment and distraction, a film titled The Russians …
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The pressure to perform
During my carefree days in boarding school, and here I hark back to the swinging sixties, I did not really feel all that carefree. There were all kinds of pressures that beset us students, pressures that our school masters and teachers, dormitory matrons as well as our parents unwittingly placed on our young, impressionable minds. …
Lock, Stock and Barrel
If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stocks, not selling advice. Norman Ralph Augustine, former Chairman of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Those of us who, for several years now, have been placing our faith, trust and such meagre moolah as we have salted away from our honest toil, in India’s public sector banks, …
It’s too late to stop now
If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing. Kingsley Amis. For close to twenty years, give or take a few this way or that, I have been writing a weekly column or blog (call it what you will) purely for my own pleasure. Some newspapers and online sites have been good enough to …
Wardle’s Wordle
Some things just creep up on you. One minute you are strolling along merrily, whistling a happy tune like Anna in The King and I. Next thing you know, you feel a slight crick somewhere in your lower back, possibly between your third (L3) and fifth (L5) vertebrae, think nothing of it and before you …
Abide with me, while I….
The beautiful lyrics for the hymn, Abide with Me, were written by Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte in 1847 as he was dying from tuberculosis, the haunting melody for which was set by William Henry Monk. During my boarding school days in Bangalore, we often sang this paean during chapel service, along with other equally …
India and The Henley Passport Index
I will make such a wonderful India that all Americans will stand in line to get a visa for India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hands up, all those who have heard of The Henley Passport Index. All hands down, I see, which is pretty much what I expected. I had not heard of The Henley …
Firestarter
Denied loan, man sets bank on fire. News reports. Spare a thought for Wasim Hazaratsab Mulla, 33, a resident of Rattihalli town in Haveri district, Karnataka. He had applied for a loan for an undisclosed sum from his friendly (or so he thought) neighbourhood branch of a nationalized bank. As is the way with bureaucracy …
The Bad, the Ugly and the Good
If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace. John Lennon. I have just finished watching 19 episodes over two seasons of an American serial titled, Boss. In case any of you is interested, it is being streamed on the Amazon Prime Video channel. My providing this information is in no …