Raise your hand those of you who have never received a crank call on their mobile phones or, come to that, their landline phones. Any takers? Nope, I do not see a single hand going up and neither did I expect to see one. Those amongst you below the age of consent who are not …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
War Games
We didn’t start the fire / No, we didn’t light it / But we tried to fight it. Billy Joel. In case you have not noticed, there’s a serious combat in progress on our borders. Only we cannot actually call it a war unless certain provisions of the Geneva Conventions are met. As I am …
Paperback Writer
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book? / It took me years to write, will you take a look? The Beatles. Indian writers and writers of Indian origin, and they are not necessarily the same thing, are ruling the roost in the publishing world. Salman Rushdie doesn’t count, any more than does V.S. …
An Inspector Calls
Good morning, Inspector. I was not expecting a visit from you. Not at two in the morning. Is there anything wrong? Can I help you in any way with your inquiries? Yes, I was sleeping. I believe it is normal for decent people to be fast asleep at this time of night. Or rather, this …
Old Friends
Can you imagine us years from today / Sharing a park bench quietly? / How terribly strange to be 70. Simon & Garfunkel There is this old school class mate of mine, let’s just call him RK whom I had not met for several years and whom I ran into quite unexpectedly. All said and …
No taareef for Trump’s tariffs
This tariff business has got the whole world in a twist. The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump vowed to impose reciprocal tariffs on countries which enjoy an advantageous tariff equation against the United States. That appears to include every single country on God’s green land including little-known islands where only penguins …
IPL. Still crazy after all these years.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is upon us. Once more with feeling. This is the 18th edition of this obscenely cash-rich tournament and no one seems to be tiring of it. It is another matter altogether that many cricket followers, particularly those of an older generation, swear blind that they will never watch another IPL …
Boring!
A bore is a person who opens his mouth and puts his feats in it. Henry Ford. It is widely accepted that while being overly aggressive, offensive or too clever by half is not a personality trait to be admired, there can be no bigger pain in the posterior region than that of being a …
Leaves that are green turn to brown
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song / I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long / Time hurries on / And the leaves that are green turn to brown. Simon & Garfunkel. Not finding anything earth-shattering to write about this week (if truth be told, it happens to me every week), …
News channels move over, the Podcasters are here.
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I have all but stopped watching the news bulletins on television, along with their noisy debates. As I am channel-agnostic, my disenchantment with the news as purveyed cuts across all television channels. There are two reasons for this cynical observation. The obvious one is the abysmal quality …
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