The Indian Express - August 19, 2012
When Chinese precision meets Indian flexibility on a journey to Kailash Mansarovar My trip to Kailash Mansarovar was flagged off by a wry, tongue-in-cheek comment from a dear friend about going all the way to pray in the Chinese language to Hindu gods. The trip had its share of spectacular personal highs, but it also had its fair share of interesting sidelights that make you think about the world you live in. Perhaps, such worldly reflections are as much the point of pilgrimages as the hope for a glimpse of divinity. I strongly recommend a visit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) or equivalent senior delegation to Zhangmu on the China-Nepal border for a reality check. On the one side is laid-back human authority and on the other, just across a short bridge, envious, formidable, faceless efficiency, including insistence on straight lines. On our return, as we queued up […]
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EYE - June 24, 2012
A new-age way for helicopter parents to track their children’s whereabouts The add-on credit card and the SMS that follows after it is used is one of the greatest new-age developments to delight helicopter parents. Offspring, who seldom answer cellphones, never fail to swipe their add-on credit cards. It is also a double-edged gift given by people who haven’t kicked the parental micromanaging habit, despite their children having moved out of home and into college dorms far away. “Comedy club at 2am? What is she thinking, who is her escort?” “Yes, I know I told him to buy any birthday gift he wanted using the add-on card, but at such an expensive shop? Must give him a lecture on brand illusion.” Add-on cards also help to keep tabs on hyperactive mothers. “Ratnadeep supermart at 9am on a Sunday, and so much stuff? Mom, are you having a party, didn’t the […]
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EYE - June 3 - 2012
Finding Light at the End of the Culinary Tunnel In the TV serial Kuch Tho Log Kahenge, Dr Nidhi is cooking her first meal in her sasuraal. She has arranged the cooking implements precisely, as if in an operation theatre and has definitively dismissed Ramu kaka, the elderly family retainer’s offers to assist. Suddenly she has a doubt. What should the exact temperature of the oil be for bhajiyas? Ramu kaka looks bewildered and says “bitiya, taapmaan to hum ne kabhi nahin dekha” (My dear, I’ve never checked the temperature). Of course the bhajiyas were a disaster. It was reassuring to know that times haven’t changed all that much and new brides, even if otherwise capable, still can’t cook; but it was heartening to note that they now guiltlessly find smart solutions and escape the annoying lifelong jokes about their early attempts at cooking. Dr Nidhi quietly ordered food in, from her father’s house. When I got married, […]
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The Indian Express - April 22, 2012
The bittersweet moments of role reversals in mother-daughter ties Please remember to switch off the lights as you leave, otherwise my electricity bill shoots up… and please don’t lose my house keys”, the just-started-working young lady said to her mother. The mother was indignant. She thought, “What about all the lights and fans you left on, all those growing up years; and all the milk you poured down the sink when you thought nobody was looking? And all those expensive tuition teachers you persuaded to leave early even though we were paying them by the hour?” But after she got the indignation out of her system, she thought with a gleam in her eye, “ab meri baari“. She had known early on in motherhood, that every 10 years or so, who embarrasses whom changes and power shifts. When her daughter was two, they took her with them to a fancy […]
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Indian Express - April 01, 2012
The jungle is not a place of predator and prey, instead it’s about collaborating and sharing the same waterhole. For so long, I have heard the phrase “it’s a jungle out there” mentioned in the context of the cruel world of business , and understood it to mean that only the fittest will survive and it’s each man to his own, constantly watching his back, in the fight for survival. There are various other metaphors used which underline this sentiment. At a top management conference of a large, politics ridden organisation, one of them pithily said “let’s face it, either you are the road roller or the road – there is no third option”. Either you are the hunter or the hunted, the predator or the prey. So, when I actually went into the jungle a few months ago, I realised pleasantly that “it’s a jungle out there” isn’t about […]
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