Suresh Chandrasekaran's Blog, page 54

All about Arnab

I have been suffering from an overdose of Arnab Goswami thanks to a news-addicted friend's visit. The experience has come close to being life-changing, insofar as switching off the TV has left me unnerved with the sudden silence, which seems sepulchral in the aftermath. I must also confess that I have developed a whole new appreciation for Arnab.

When, at the beginning of his show, Arnab

Culture - Fragile, handle with care

It is shocking to realize that I have all along been totally oblivious of what is happening around me. Worse still, I have been living in a fool's paradise assuming things to be exactly the opposite of how they really are. It is such a shameful thing that I have been so ignorant about what is happening with such an important thing as my own culture.



That is the problem with taking things for

Words of Importance - Scenario

"We are planning to increase our production in anticipation of higher demand for our products."



"If people do not actually buy more, we may lose a lot of money. Our product is perishable and if we cannot sell it, we will have to junk it."



Those pearls of wisdom uttered in the second half were, obviously, mine. Needless to say, half the people did not even deign to listen and the other

Panchatantra with a twist - Netted Pigeons

Now, there was this flock of pigeons whose head was friends with a mouse. One day, the pigeons found a lot of grains scattered in a field and descended to peck at them, only to find themselves trapped in a net. The head of the flock suggested that all of the them should unitedly fly with the net. If they could reach the mouse, he could gnaw the ropes of the net through and release them.

Approval

'Practice makes you perfect' or some such thing, they say, and it is probably true. Whatever else I practiced or not, the one thing I know that I practiced with utmost diligence all through my life was this thing of seeking approval. It is true that I am yet to discover why it is so important to acquire this ability but still...

Anyway, I must say almost all of us get a very early start on

Body Modesty

'Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile', is probably your first reaction to this photograph from my recent Kothagiri trek. (Yeah! I really know how much you all love me) My reaction, though, was slightly different. (No! Nothing to do about how pleasing the man in the pic is, thank you) I was wondering about how someone like me, who was the epitome of body-modesty in my youth,

Maundering about Laundering

So, I am mucking around trying to find something to write about, and someone sends me a prompt about laundering men (actually, non-laundering men). I gear up to write about how highly intelligent men were putting in all their skills in the socially productive act of laundering (well - money-laundering, actually. We, humans, have this extraordinary quality of irony - how else would be end up

Advising - inadvisable?

This business of advising is so dangerous. There you go, happily mouthing off wisdom and then, suddenly, you discover that you have dug a pit for yourself and are expected to fill it with your body. It can really become a grave (pun intended) matter sometimes.



Now, before YOU start advising ME about it, let me tell you that I do know about how the aura of an adviser affects people. I know

Irresolute Resolutions?

Every time, around the end of a year, I suddenly get the feeling that I should do something in my life. A strange feeling since, normally, I feel that living it is sufficient to justify a life. When the thought gets too strong for me - which, thankfully, it does not do every year - I, too, indulge in the annual pastime of Homo Sapiens. I make resolutions.

Last year was one such year when I

The year that was

I have seldom been the sort to feel any great expectations from the end of one year and the start of another. A cow placidly chewing cud is unlikely to be recollecting the last year's chewed cud or look excitedly forward to chewing cud the next year. That, roughly, sums up my attitude to life.

Occasionally, though, there are those years that impose themselves on me. Mostly, they make me want