Redefining Horizons

  Happy New Year    May this year bring each one of you, and your loved ones, happiness, good health and a sense of safety. Being located in more than 180 different countries, we are separated by time, space, geography, and cultural backgrounds, but we are united in our quest for serious reading. Thank you for choosing to read my articles. Thank you for sharing my articles with your friends. Please use the comment section under each article published to engage in discussion and exchange thoughts on the subject discussed.  Now to the topic of the Day -  When silence prevails,  “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” “There is wisdom in silence.” “Learn to listen.” “Silence is Golden.” “Do you always have to speak?” “Can't you keep quiet?” “Why should you speak for him?” Irrespective of our nationalities, it is likely that we grew up having heard one or more of the above statements or questions. These are a few of the dictums that condit...

  Wrestle with the pigs?  Yes. What happens if you do? “You both get dirty, and the Pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw.   Would anyone do that? Most of us do.    Why would anyone do that? Well, it is in our nature to do that. Despite my resolve not to, I almost got into the pit yesterday.    My school had a piggery. The place had an offensive stink that reached far beyond its walls. It was there that I saw pigs for the first time. The piglets looked cute, ate a lot, and grew up into huge pink pigs. I knew they would end up on our plates sometime and felt bad for them. Nevertheless, I relished pork.    One fine day, I came across George Orwell ’s all-time classic, The Animal Farm , and read it. Unaware that the book was a political satire about the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union , it led me to consider pigs as ruthlessly manipulative, cunning, and wily. I visited the piggery once or twice after that and tried to identify N...

  “Kundil Veena Chundeli” is in Malayalam and means “mouse that fell in a ditch . “History repeats itself” is an idiom that finds frequent mention nowadays. Both sides, especially in animated television discussions that become no-holds-barred debates, use it at will. The events that unfold daily across the world somehow give me the impression that the contemporary is often a repetition of the past, and we, in our own little ways, are all part of this great drama. To make things clearer, let me share a Malayalam story I learned as a child in the second or third grade. The story seems to repeat endlessly, though the characters keep changing. Let me narrate the story, giving it a contemporary flavour. The story Once upon a time, a mouse landed up in a kitchen in search of food. Without much problem, he found two “ neyyappams ” (a Malayali sweet and my childhood favourite) wrapped in a newspaper. Without waiting to eat, he picked up the packet and walked. He wanted to reach h...

  Ferocity, in battles on the land and duels in the air, was the hallmark of the second Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. Many books have been written, on both sides of the border, about the war and its battles, both in the air and on the land. Carefully researched facts, figures, and diagrams outlining the progress of operations lend an essence of authority to the work. Each story, replete with grit and valour, with all the attendant ghastly details finely woven in, makes compelling narratives that deify domestic military heroes and demonise the adversary. Straying from the truth while writing about battles is an honourable compulsion, soaked in nationalism. After all, war has never been about absolute truth, and history, the narrative of the victor.  But what happens when both parties declare themselves victors? Deja Vu? This article, like the previous three on India’s unparalleled wars, will not take us through individual battles. We will navigate mostly through the causes to...

Defining India-China Relationship  India’s War with China started on 20 October 1962, when China launched simultaneous attacks in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, then called NEFA. The war ended on 21 November 1962, when China unilaterally declared a ceasefire. China withdrew from all areas it had captured, but not from the Aksai Chin area. Official details of the month-long conflict remain largely opaque to this day in India, locked away in classified documents. However, we often come across bits and pieces, carefully curated for political returns.  The shroud over bilateral relations between India and China notwithstanding, the two most populous neighbours remain locked in distrust and domestic denials, despite growing trade between them. The occasional glimmers of hope in the relationship often end up being extinguished by disappointments, and every photo opportunity, from the “ Hindi-Chini, bhai-bha i” days to the contemporary “riverside spectacle,” eventually turned out to b...