At least five

Been meaning to say here … I’m intrigued, and more than a little amused, by the sudden slew of comments I got about a week ago for my little piece on that man HKL Bhagat.
See the last few comments there. Clearly the man wasn’t quite as “universally hated” as Abi thinks he was (sixth [...]

OK to sleep

A part-followup to this.
***
The day starts with what must be the finest aroma in this city. Morning in Dadar, and especially Plaza Cinema: the delicate freshness of green vegetables, the sweet pungency of coriander. I have to wait for a while for Arun whom I’m supposed to meet, but bathed in this fragrance, I don’t [...]

Perennial inability

“The power of population,” wrote Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus over two hundred years ago, “is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.” Those words from “Essay on Population” summarize a bleak, apocalyptic vision of the future of mankind that has influenced generations of scientists. It was a compelling, if [...]

Some pig

Some ends that need tying, or not.
***
Over at this post I wrote some days ago, I mentioned the phrase “Some pig” and asked, which classic book was I reading and who wrote it?
Commenting there, The Scribe got the right book, Charlotte’s Web.
This delightful classic was written by a quiet genius, E.B. White. Another kids’ [...]

Hospital on my mind

A man called Anand Dighe died in a Thane hospital in August 2001. He was a popular man, I believe. For a crowd that had gathered while he was being treated felt very sad when he finally died. “Spontaneously”, there at the hospital, they expressed their “grief.”
And this is how they did it.
They destroyed the [...]

I meant “excellent”

As I write this, Rahul Dravid has just completed a fifty in the ongoing match against South Africa. And I’m reminded of this post I wrote some weeks ago.
Because in it, I asked parenthetically: ever notice how many fifties are described as “a fantastic innings under pressure”?
And today, the cricinfo ball-by-ball for this [...]

Enhance the corner

From the Bombay Times, today Sunday November 27: a box titled “The Tip” in an article by psychotherapist Seema Hingorrany.
How should one use feng shui to gain knowledge and enlightment?

Keep a bookcase filled with books to reflect your knowledge in the Northeast corner of your home.
Place pens, pencils, writing tablets in this area.
Pots, urns, or [...]

Down the upstream

Writing software, bright computer scientists will tell you, is an intensely creative process. Much like writing short stories or novels. If you’re good, you will express your ideas clearly and logically, and that applies to software or stories. So well-written code (software) is often called “clear” or “innovative”. Or, best of all, the adjective all [...]

Extra extra credit

In recent days, I’ve found ever more reason to applaud Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s insight about plagiarists. With every new discovery, it’s clearer to me what he meant and why. So allow me to quote him in this space for the third time:
Plagiarists are always suspicious of being stolen from.
***
Two people you have no respect and [...]

Leave me now

Sanjeevani sits there, singing song after Hindi film song. “Gore gore“, “Mohabbat aisi dhadkan hai“, “Dil cheez kya hai” and more. It’s a breezy, dramatic setting with palms and the ruined ramparts of the Fort rising up on the hill, people seated all the way up. Everyone’s in a fine mood, shouting requests or handing [...]