January 3, 2022
First published in The Indian Express on 18th Nov 2021 As we begin to step out after almost two years of being largely confined to our homes, the occasion of World Philosophy Day today offers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges we faced, and the value and need of philosophy in these unprecedented times. [...]December 13, 2021
As a result of the number of adverse situations we have to face, many health professionals are having to propose solutions to deal with the ever-increasing number of cases of uncontrolled and unmanageable emotions, depressions or, on a smaller scale, states of anxiety. It is interesting that this has led us to turn to the [...]June 19, 2021
Across the globe, we are all living through interesting times, and these unique times are certainly powerful – both in our lives, as well as in human history. From different corners, across multiple forums, I am sure each of us has in the recent weeks and months heard others or indeed ourselves, say: “What a [...]May 12, 2021
A long time ago, in the lands marked by the Roman Republic, a group of senators marched with haste to meet a man tilling a small farm. Upon watching the senators approach his farm, the man enquired, “Is everything alright?” to which they replied, “We hope that it might turn out well for both you [...]May 2, 2021
We live at a time in history – which is everybody’s life – when events are accelerating unstoppably, and often give us the impression that they are completely beyond our powers. We know that the duration of time varies in accordance with the inner state with which we measure it. For this reason, neither in [...]April 4, 2021
We live in a world of lasers, particle accelerators, satellite image transmission, mainframe computers and microchips, and many other things so unique to this era. At the same time, however, we live with our desires, passions, defects and virtues, with our universal and timeless fears, typical of every human being and of all times. And [...]March 31, 2021
In recent years we seem to see an increasing number of people across the world calling to sharpen the fine boundary between technology employed to serve humanity, and that which takes over our freedom. We have smart phones and watches that make our lives easier, or sometimes more complicated… leaving users sometimes lesser and lesser [...]March 31, 2021
Is it not ironic that while we love the blossoming life, we try to avoid the very process that leads to the blossoming – the process of challenges. It seems to me that the purpose of human life is to grow. When I look back at the moments or the phases through which I have [...]February 28, 2021
2020 has been a tumultuous year. We are dealing with a quarantine instigated by a global pandemic and the quietude such isolation can provide us, in addition to the clamor of civil uprisings incited by a myriad of injustices. Whether we have experienced great tragedy or merely bore witness to the absurdity of our condition, [...]January 3, 2021
During the lockdown, some of you may have come across a short story by E.M. Forster called The Machine Stops, which made it into the news due to its extraordinary prescience. Written in 1909, five years before the cataclysmic event of the First World War, the author describes a future world in which people ‘self-isolate’, [...]December 27, 2020
For many of us who live in big cities, Time is something we always lack. We find ourselves struggling to reach places on time, to submit our work on time, to wake up on time, and the list can go on and on… If only someone could give us a little more time to complete [...]December 9, 2020
We live in a polluted world, and we have become used to it. The level of environmental pollution, especially in large cities, increases day by day, but because we cannot abandon them as our obligations are still anchored there, we have simply adapted to this situation. Our bodies have produced antibodies, and almost naturally, we [...]