I was walking down the street on a cold day in Brussels when the sight of Tintin and Snowy in a window display caught my eye and made me feel at home in my foreign surroundings. Decades earlier, George Remi, (pen name Hergé)) had traversed borders and continents and brought Continue Reading

I like to think that spiritual success cannot be found by getting away from everyday life. There is no point in going to a retreat and feeling calm only to return and get riled up all over again. There’s going to be chaos every now and then. Work and responsibilities Continue Reading

The yesteryears’ actor Mehmood was really on to something when he sang, “The whole thing is that ke bhaiya sabse bada rupaiyya.” It made us laugh back then because it was easier to laugh at the truth than to accept it. Yet, the older you get the more you realize Continue Reading

The title of the Bond film “Die Another Day,” aptly describes the feeling you have before a family wedding. Suddenly, everything seems to be hinged on those few days when elaborate events have been planned to celebrate something as simple as two people beginning a life together. All information that Continue Reading

Light, even in its metaphorical sense doesn’t always have to be a burst of supernatural, cosmic energy. I believe I’m following the light when I look after my health, when I’m watchful of my actions and when I carry out acts of charity. I’m following the light when I appreciate Continue Reading

We are all villains in someone’s story. This is the duality we live with. Once we accept this, we’ll stop putting ourselves through hell for being provoked or misunderstood. Sometimes there’s friction. It doesn’t work. Someone doesn’t have to be awful to justify an association that didn’t go well. Not Continue Reading

As it usually happens, a philosophical thought manifests at the most unexpected moments. It was in the midst of a casual discussion with a French couple (on a cloudy evening in Chartres) that I rediscovered something meaningful. The duck’s webbed feet not only help it to swim but also prevent Continue Reading

I began to think about my generation, referred to as Generation X after a recent visit to the hospital with my mother where we nursed her back to good health after a brief illness. As grateful as we are for modern medicine and longevity, somewhere inside me I mourned the Continue Reading

There used to be a tiny shore at Marine Drive, cut off from the rest of the famous Chowpatty Beach by a short stretch of land. It was accessible via a series of jagged stone steps. We used to go there as children to collect sea-shells, away from the crowds Continue Reading

Of late, travelling has become a necessity. When I was little, it was a luxury. Holidays were taken a couple of years apart, usually involved uncomfortable train or bus journeys and were planned after we had grown enough to save memories. Back then, the window between childhood and adulthood was Continue Reading