Musings Own Thoughts

 Can man and woman be just friends? As you read this question how many can give a straight unequivocal answer? My answer given from my head is Yes but my heart says No. The movie in question is a delightful take on this question. The plot is based on Harry and Sally who are thrown together in the movie multiple times in their lives and slowly but steadily develop a fondness for each other. Yet right in the beginning of the movie Harry proclaims that a man and woman cannot be just friends without sex/physical attraction coming in the way. Sally takes an opposing view and tries to prove her point. Even as they are on an 18 hour road trip Harry almost pretends to set up a date with Sally by remaking that she was very attractive. Sally who knew Harry was dating a common friend strongly objected to the pass and made the argument that they could be friends but if Harry brought sex to the table their friendship was doomed.  As the movie progressed it was itersperesed with stories of ...

 What is it that makes Arundhati Roy different? She is certainly a woman of substance, an undefined entity who attracts and repels people in equal measure. I have just finished her book, memoir or biography titled " Mother Mary comes to Me". It is indeed a remarkable book, difficult to define as in different places it tells a tale of two remarkable women. Their biological relationship of mother and daughter was unlike a conventional one and was instrumental in creating Arundhati Roy, a worthy daughter of a remarkable woman shaped by the oscillatory nature of a hate love relationship. The torture inflicted by the mother on the unwanted daughter seemed at odds with a mother who fought against her brother and society to establish women's right to inherit ancestral property. She got the Supreme court to overturn the Travancore and Cochin Succession Act which prevented women from inheriting their share of property.  A lot of her writing both fiction and non fiction carried the...

 Last month I travelled to London for two weeks with family to attend a wedding in a destination Kew Gardens and to later spend some time with the family of my niece. The first week was in Rayners park Soutwest of Central London and the second in Carpenders park in Northwest of Central London. Both these areas are not directly connected to the famous old London Tube but were lovely livable areas with all the typical shops houses and streets that typify the old London. While I am not writing a travelogue just thought of penning down stray thoughts and observations about this trip.  British Airways for all the criticism and low expectation was a pleasant surprise. The crew were sensitive to my daughter Delna who is a young adult with Down's Syndrome.  London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 huge busy but seemed an old run down airport. The transit train was an unexpected experience but the rest parking lifts etc chaotic.  First impression as we drove to our destination to R...

  How does one begin to write a piece in a week which culminated in a rare conflence of events which combined coincidentally and also linked together to create some thoughts. On October 2, 2025 the festival of Dushera coincided with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri . Two days later on October 4, 2025 at my work place we celebrated the hospitals' 21st bithday.  The decline in overall standards of morality is so precipitous and rapid that it is becoming incresing ly difficult to recognize this great fall. The rapidity of this free fall has created situations in which compromises on all fronts has been normalised. Is there a way out and what should we do to stem the tide? Gandhi wrote a book Hind Swaraj the contents of which seem nonsensical and illogical today. He condemned parliamentary democracy, Railways, mass production in factories, modern education, doctors and lawyers. But with all the noble intentions everything he said is correct as in ...

 While there is no doubt in my mind that the loudest voices heard in public and even private spaces are the ones proclaiming pessimism, danger, scaremongering and misinformation. However, as a student of Vedanta I also believe that left to oneself humans are fundamentally good and are capable of acts selflessness which are beyond ones imagination. The problem I face today is that this belief and faith in humanity is shaken to the core when one discovers the immense amount of hatred, suffering and violence we see all over  the world.  The very fact that these voices are becoming mainstream and louder to the extent that the discourse on all platforms is promoting division and disharmony is making me pose the question of the title of this blog. The times we live in are increasingly referred to as Kalyug or dark ages and the discriminatory abilities of most us are poor if not non existent. This is evidenced in many ways in the way we act in our daily lives. I will touch on as...

Come winter and marriages will take place as an annual ritual, déjà vu events with the vows of unending fidelity and eternal love. While this happens the reality of more than 70% of such events ending in messy divorces is an ignored statistic. A question crossed my mind while witnessing the ceremonies of marriages is that is it possible that these over the top celebrations are a kind of assurance that the memory bank of the celebrations and the effort, expenses keep the marriages intact for as long as possible. The contract and institution of marriage is in reality a  commercial transactional contract with legal safeguards to ensure property and assets get transferred and remain within the family.  Human behaviour is governed by a herd instinct and we are mostly living superficial lives conforming to societal norms without much questioning. Most of us take birth, play in childhood with toys and trinkets fulfilling our desires, and soon encouraged by adults learn to say my doll...