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Musings from my twilight
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” -Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius was a stoic and a man of great wisdom; very unusual in a ruler. So, I present my musings to you as something from my perspective and not “The Truth”. As I reflect…
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Ahem! Pardon me, may I say something?
We are living in a country that appears to have gone mad. All sane voices are being silenced. All insanity is being given free reign. Since fascists don’t read history it has no lessons for them. For it is too easy to see what happened every single time to those who went down this road…
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Eulogy or Elegy?
Don’t wait for a eulogy to become an elegy. I am writing this as a reflection and a reminder to myself and to you. Express appreciation to the one who was good to you and added value to your life before they die. Don’t wait for someone to die before you tell them that you…
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My dear friend MP
Today was the first day in my life when I received the news of the passing away of two of my childhood friends. One was Chandramohan Agarwal, my classmate all through school in the Hyderabad Public School and the other was Mohammed, the son of Nawab Habib Jung. Mohammed (we called him MP) was a…
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Of humanity, not airlines
https://civicskunk.works/the-united-story-isnt-about-customer-service-it-s-about-class-warfare-52e47b455f2e I travel all the time, but never on United. I agree with all that has been said in this article. However, my question is not about airlines though I support #neverflyunited. It is about humanity and decency. It is about justice. It is about the maxim, ‘Injustice to one is injustice to all.’ That…
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Madrassa education in India – what needs to change
The purpose of this article is to help the graduates of Madaaris (Ulama) to become relevant in modern society and to be able to provide positive leadership to their congregations. I have tried to define the situation with Madrassa Education in India as I understand it and to propose a solution to the deficiencies and…
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To train or to entertain
The dilemma of the modern corporate enter-trainer One of my friends who is a corporate trainer/teacher/facilitator, wrote to me on Teacher’s Day and talked about how the nature of training/teaching has changed. Observation: attitudes of students have changed… Guru is not necessarily a brahmo or devo. As a service provider, there is no leeway or…
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Manjaparai – Yellow Rock
In Lower Sheikalmudi Estate, on the other side of Sholayar Dam in the Anamallais, we had a coffee area which was adjacent to the reserve forest. The coffee presented open grazing area to the Sambar and Gaur that live in the reserve forest. They did not damage the coffee itself but would feed on the…
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Is it a bird or is it a plane? Homeschooling concerns
Of late I, have been reading many articles on ‘Homeschooling’ – which term when written like this seems to have acquired the status of legitimacy instead of being wrong spelling. The need for a hyphen is apparently no longer felt. ‘Home’ and ‘School’ are evidently no longer two different places, either geographically, physically or emotionally.…
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Of Mistakes and Crimes
A mistake is one that is made by mistake (sic) and a crime is one that is done deliberately. A mistake must obviously be forgiven. A crime is culpable but can also be forgiven. This is the peculiarity of Islamic Law that even a crime as serious as murder can simply be forgiven by the…