Tid Bit from My Diary

India is large as well as diverse and not everyone of us have a clear understanding of how things are done or the problems faced by people of various parts of the country. I was not aware of the fact that people defecate in the open till I made my first train journey to the northern parts of the country. Where I grew up, we have had different type of toilets with a western commode on one end and a platform over a pit on the other end of the spectrum. Constructing a minimum of an improvised septic tank with a closed toilet, I still do not believe is as much a big deal for most of the people from northern India as much as I think it is a cultural issue. I am basing my statement based on my personal experience during my days in New Delhi in the nineties. I had a colleague coming from a very well to do farming family in Najafgarh, a place in the fringe of the national capital. He preferred to have the morning conference in the open field with the vessel they call “lota” rather than ...

We are human beings and history tells us that we could never agree for universal peace. Only a dreamer could fathom absolute peace in this world. The lesser mortals who form the backbone of our civilization will be content with peace of mind at the individual level.   I am looking at this portrayal of a scene from the 5th century AD where strong Hun men are killing a woman and her child. It could be for any pretense but unjustifiable. One and half thousands years later, unfortunately very little has changed. The time and place kept changing while the pain remained the same. It's equally unjustifiable today! "The Huns at the Battle of Chalons" from page 135 of A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times Volume I of VI Since the beginning of human civilization, our leaders driven by lust for power, wealth or women has been leading groups of strong opportunist and sometimes disillusioned people to kill our innocent population. If you want to give it a name, be...

Photo Credit I faced the brightest light imaginable. It was blinding and I could barely see anything clearly and in midst of all this a strange voice asked who I was. I said it’s the Special Agent called “Me”. You know, I am the most special person I have ever known, I explained. “Special, my foot!” came the reply. I wanted to ask him to show me the feet. Instead I got rebuked for trying to be funny. I realized he was reading my mind and meant serious business. As if to leave no doubt, he authoritatively asked me to explain why I thought I was special. My life flashed back in front of my eyes as I desperately tried to substantiate my claim of being special. I have felt sad at the suffering of others at many occasions, I remembered. Sometimes I even donated some money or clothes. Alas! The money was not even a fraction of my then living expense. I am ashamed that handing down those clothes were as much important to clear my wardrobe as to help others. Better not m...

In 2010, I had blogged about shopping online in my post  Bricks and The Bytes . I was then surprised with myself that someone like me could buy air tickets, books to clothing from online retailers. This was no mean feat for someone of our generation who has witnessed the computers evolve to a common mans device. I was upbeat that bytes will completely overtake the bricks as far as shopping goes. I have a dream today, I told myself borrowing from the famous speech by Martin Luther King, as wrote the post about the virtual shopping.                     Having associated with design and construction since my college days I had seen the ins and outs of the way we create our shopping experience. I had dreamt that our physical shopping experience will undergo a paradigm shift from the way they do business and so will the online shopping. But w...

When the angel finally arrives to our home we are overjoyed. In that euphoria we sometimes miss to take some fundamental yet crucial precautions. It may sound difficult to accept but true that the adage "less is more" is nowhere more appropriate then when it comes to skincare for the newborns. We need to understand that not only is a newborn baby’s skin delicate, so is the immune system. All chemicals, fragrances or artificial additives should therefore be avoided from all types of clothing and accessories. Ignorance is definitely not bliss and can expose baby’s skin to skin ailments such as dryness, irritation, rashes etc. and leave a long-lasting scar on the skin. The following interview with an expert is an effort to protect our babies through proper care. Q: How many times should we bathe the baby?                  A: Resist the urge to bathe your baby too frequently ...

“Honey, I won a million US$!” a very few will believe these when they hear something similar from their spouses. Even if someone does, it will be with so much of suspicion and scepticism. Our household has two female of the species and each of them, I know will react in two diametrically opposite ways. My daughter who still believe in magic as well as miracles will congratulate me and probably request me to buy her a robotic puppy. She wanted to take one for a walk but we told her it was too expensive for a toy. The other woman will convince me this offer was from that distant land in Africa which had built up quite a reputation for itself by promising top dollars in lottery, inheritance or charity to anyone who was willing to bite the bait. But if it is true and all mine, a million US $ in clean monies will make a huge impact on my life and for that matter anyone's life. A million US dollars is more money than it actually appears to be, it's six and half crores of In...

Only a few moments ago, it seems a precious little miracle happened in our life as our beautiful angel was delivered. Today she sits next to me discussing what would protect the soft skin of a baby.   It was a brilliant idea, I thought to have a family discussion on a subject like this. Moreover, it provides an excellent opportunity for my daughter, a second grader to participate and brainstorm on a topic. We started by asking ourselves what was most important for a baby. There was no surprise in that. It was sleep, we all agreed as they sleep for the best part of the day. Babies, however have shorter sleeping cycles compared to adults and it gets even shorter if she became wet and uncomfortable. That is one of the reasons why we keep a waterproof material for the baby to sleep on. The most common practice is a rubber cloth topped up with soft linen. “Is this comfortable” I asked the house and it was a "No” in a chorus. “The baby wakes up in the middle of the night cry...