“A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with ceaseless restlessness.” A profound statement on happiness made by one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century! Albert Einstein was touring Japan when he got the news of winning Nobel Prize in Physics. Overwhelmed by the sudden name and fame, he penned down his musings on a piece of hotel stationary which later came to be known as Einstein’s Theory of Happiness.
Why relive the horrors of those dark days?
I remember my paternal grandfather’s house near Chaura Bazar in Ludhiana, a small, triple storey house with a tiny room, a small kitchen, a courtyard on the ground floor and a toilet without sewage on the top floor. It was a queer-looking house that he got in claim in lieu of the property left behind in Pakistan at the time of the partition. No different is the story of my maternal grandfather who was allotted a house in Gurgaon in early 50s, much before it became a Millennium City. Both my grandparents, paternal and maternal, hailed from Multan, now in Pakistan. They were uprooted and had to leave behind their home and hearth, when they came to India as refugees. A huge loss! But how can I forget that the houses they got in claim were the ones vacated by Muslims who had to flee India under similar circumstances? Continue reading “Why relive the horrors of those dark days?”
The games nostalgia plays
Taking a sepia-tinted view of childhood and yearning for the life we once lived are universal phenomena. Our childhood might not have been very comfortable, the past not so perfect yet we love to indulge in sentimental glamourisation of the past, recalling those bygone days with nostalgia. The wistful feeling that everything was better in our world gone by and we were happier is so romantic.
Just two-minutes for our feathered friends
On a particularly hot summer day while I was having my customary evening walk in the neighborhood park, I happened to take note of a middle-aged man. My curiosity was aroused to see the man carrying water in a big polythene bag. There was an unmistakable sense of mission in his gait. Yes, he was on a mission to provide water to birds and strays. Continue reading “Just two-minutes for our feathered friends”
We, the Indians…
I sincerely wish these are really not Indian traits but sadly these are , evident everywhere in our society , in our behaviour , in our mindset.
‘Rules are meant to be broken’, are the proud proclamations we often hear in our country, as if flouting rules is an achievement to be flaunted. Not only do many of us blatantly break the rules but have the audacity to boast about our utter disregard for the rules.
