Heaven & Hell Redefined

I remember reading somewhere (possibly in RD) that heaven was living in Indonesia at American rates of pay, with an Indian wife and eating Chinese food. Hell, on the other hand, was living in China at Indian rates of pay, with an American wife and eating Indonesian food!

Concentric Circles - The canard of relationship equivalences

My mother is a big one for drawing concentric circles in her relationships. Confused? Well, what I mean is, to her, an aunt's-motherinlaw's-sister (AMiLS) has the same value as a relative as say an uncle's-fatherinlaw's-brother (UFiLB), because they are equidistant in relationship terms. No matter that the AMiLS is an angel in human form, ever ready to drop everything to come running to help my mother when she needs it and that the UFilB is verily an avatara of Mephistopheles!

She confuses equidistance for equivalence....

Brilliant sher that I heard

Bas ek ullu bhi kaafi thaa
Barbaad gulistaan karne ko
Har shaakh pey ullu baithaa hai
Anjaam-e-gulistaan kyaa hogaa?!?

Is Ambition Religious?

“Karmanyevadhikaraste Maa Phaleshu Kadachana” – “Go about your work and do not worry about the results” – a line said to be the essence of Hindu philosophy. Also, unfortunately, the most misinterpreted verse of its most misinterpreted book. As author R.K. Narayan has said about the Bhagavad Gita in his first book Swami & Friends “This generous piece of writing extends itself to any interpretation and in Ebenezar’s (The school scripture master) hands, it served as a tool against Hinduism.”

Marriages - An Arrangement of Love

The evergreen conundrum…. what came first (No, no! This is not about poultry or ova)…. Marriage or Love? Or does there even exist a chronological correlation between these two sides of the coin of partnership?

A Random Selection

"Sir, your bags have been selected for a random security screening"

"Sir, could you please step to this side? You have been selected for a random security check prior to boarding"

Columbus Inverted

In the latter half of the 15th century, India was the land of dreams for European merchants. Its spice in particular was worth more than its weight in gold and the Arabs controlled the land route for the transportation of the spice from its Indian origins to the tables of Europe. The Europeans needed a sea route to India to break this stranglehold of the Arabs.