I was reflecting the other day on my first job interview. I am talking about an incident that occurred a tad over 50 years ago. At my stage in life, reflecting on the past plays a big role in one’s daily thought process. It’s all very well for people to lecture you on not being …
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‘Alas, poor thing!’
At the outset, let me proffer my humble apologies to Shakespeare, Hamlet and poor Yorick’s skull, which was Hamlet’s object of profuse sympathy. Yorick was the court jester and, I daresay, was a barrelful of laughs as he and his master downed many a tankard of the blushful Hippocrene at the nearby King & Crown. …
The Budget. A taxing exercise.
It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it. George W. Bush. It is that time of the year again. In just a few days, February 1st to be exact, India’s Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman will step up to the podium in the Lok Sabha to deliver the nation’s 75th Annual …
Larsen’s Toubrohmanyan
The chief honcho of one of India’s largest corporate entities, S.N. Subrahmanyan of Larsen & Toubro, has riled a whole lot of people for making a couple of ill-advised statements recently. At the outset, I wish to make it abundantly clear that, notwithstanding that he spells his surname the same way as I do, we …
In the year 2025
The new year has come and gone. Let me rephrase. What I mean by that is that New Year’s Day or January the First Anno Domini has come. And gone. In the blink of an eye. The new year 2025 is very much with us, alive and kicking, and will overstay its welcome until the …
A Mani-Splendoured Maverick
Book review Diplomacy is about surviving until the next century – politics is about surviving until Friday afternoon. Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes, Prime Minister. The one thing you can never accuse inveterate ex-diplomat and Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar of is being parsimonious with words. To put it pithily, the man is never short of …
Vedic flights of fancy
Recently, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Anandiben Patel claimed that Vedic-era sage Bharadwaj conceptualised the idea of the aircraft. She also described the mythological sleeping giant, Kumbhakaran, brother of Ravana from the epic Ramayana, as a technocrat, who spent six months secretly making machines. Presumably he slept soundly during the next six months. The Governor …
India and China see eye to eye
While I cannot totally admit that the game of chess is a closed book to me, it can be safely stated that beyond being aware of how each of the pieces moves on the chess board, I will not be able to claim even the slightest degree of proficiency. I have, on the odd occasion, …
The Deep State in deep waters
There have been occasions when I have had the pleasure, a dubious pleasure some might say, of overhearing conversations at unexpected moments and in unexpected places. I have not gone in search of snooping around expecting to pick up spicy gossip from strangers. I am not that kind of person. Things just happen. One minute …
The Winter’s Tale
The English winter – ending in July, to recommence in August. Lord Byron. I have been turning my mind to the weather lately. There is just the hint of a cold snap in the air and most of us are rubbing our hands in joyful anticipation at the onset of winter. Now, I do realise …
Suresh's Corner 