Redefining Horizons

Pancake Collapse “A classic Pancake – Collapse” declared the expert on Television. ‘Pancake – collapse’, the horror that befell ‘Tarique Gardens’, a five storied building in Mahad, is considered the worst collapse a multi-storeyed building can suffer because each floor crashes over the one below telescoping groundward trapping everything underneath. Rescue becomes difficult and painfully slow because debris has to be cleared layer by layer from the top. Pancake collapse happens when columns of the structure are woefully weak. Even an infinitesimal increase in load beyond the threshold can trigger a collapse, waiting to happen anytime. This catastrophe happens not due to omissions but through criminal indulgence. The two key issues that determine structural longevity are inherent strength and tolerance . Collapse - Organisations and Individuals Pancake – collapse is not confined to lifeless concrete structures alone. It happens with organisations and worse with individuals too. Why ...

  Jo Bole, So Kunda Khole The chief executive sat at the high table in his office and the heads of different verticals, sat in straight chairs facing him. Compared to the formal ones he chaired in the imposing conference hall with individual mics, plush chairs and crystal bowls of assorted chocolates, boss seemed to like his free-flowing ‘office meetings’. Everything was formal about ‘office meetings’, yet there was a touch of informality.   In one such meeting though the agenda was done but our cups had not yet run out of tea and we had time to be around, he asked for ideas. The silent serenity that suddenly descended notwithstanding, I came up with one, nowhere connected to my official charter. The boss smiled and said “ Jo Bole, So Kunda Khole”. He assigned me the responsibility [1] . Everyone laughed.  I tried. Tough I still have problem with assigning gender to nouns, I am at home in Hindi and due to my association with Sikhs can understand Punjabi. It took m...

Invisible Shackles Th ere is something interesting about human mind. Invisible yet visibly influential, silent yet its diktats loud, shapeless yet shapes the very existence of its host, mind is powerful enough to determine the very path man pursues. It is essentially the difference between good and bad, success and failure, sanity and insanity, even mortality and immortality.  From unbreakable bondage of existential chores to deliberate choice of renunciation, enslaving associations to liberated self, everything seems to be guided by mind. In fact, everything starts and ends with the state of mind.  Unrecognised but true, almost all of us are slaves to our mind and some of us who don’t have a mind of their own are condemned to be slaves of others’ minds. Reversible Equation Pursuit of ‘self-refinement’ involves repeated attempts to alter if not reverse mind-body relationship. Irrespective of the level of moral and intellectual existence, many would have tried contro...

Shades of Grey We grew up with, for long in existence, binaries like, ‘yes, no’, ‘right, wrong’, ‘good, bad’, ‘kind, cruel’ and ‘friend, enemy’ etc. "With Us, Against Us" is a binary that took birth in US during the first Gulf war but is gaining currency, as political systems world over turns authoritarian. Binaries represent a judgmental choice or decision. Between the two finite elements of binaries, exist large swathes of neither, often referred to as ‘shades of grey’ that is either laboured on or ignored before arriving at conclusions. Though decisions appear merely as choice between the two sentinels of a binary, for the conscientious many a dilemma needs to be conquered and compromises made enroute to reach either. “To be or not to be” Decisions in life threatening situations are indeed instantaneous. The brain automatically carries out extensive high-speed scan of the situation in light of the knowledge already acquired, weighing innumerable permu...

  Choice and Consequence Violence and depression are not symptoms of Covid. Yet as Covid spread, incidence of depression and domestic violence, reportedly flared across the world. Experts explain these behavioural changes as response to emerging uncertainties. It is said that, prolonged uncertainty triggers anxiety, helplessness and loneliness. Severity of these states depend upon the ability of an individual to handle situations. Human response to external events stream through a ‘thought -emotions- behaviour’ channel, the characteristics of which is primarily dictated by the ‘philosophy of life’ evolved over time and internalised. Loneliness Loneliness is a state of existence, where one feels alone and abandoned.  An end-state of an event or events, real or perceived, loneliness is the beginning of retreat. It erodes self-esteem and aggravates the reinforcing cycle of anxiety and sense of loss. It decimates interpersonal connections forcing withdrawal into ...