Stray Thoughts

It is summer and it seems the world has ascended to the hills. There are cars whizzing on our village road and people looking to buy land. I am worried that land around us will soon be sold and we will be surrounded by cottages and loud city folk with their fast cars. The idyll that we expect in these sylvan surroundings will be lost! But then who am I to object? I too have recently come to stay here even though I have lived in this place and loved it for 35 years now. In the sixty odd years of my life, circumstances, some over which I had little control, have moved me from place to place. I know I was born in R G Kar Hospital of Kolkata, and my father was then posted at Contai and then at Howrah, so I guess I must have stayed there as an infant, and then we moved to Delhi. After five years there we moved back to Kolkata, and I stayed put there for the next 16 years. As an autonomous adult I have stayed in the outskirts of Varanasi, in Nainital district, Almora town, Lucknow, S...

How many of us recall the significance of the 11 th of July? I am sure many do not. It was not many years ago that this day was celebrated with mini-marathons, speeches by Health Ministers and sometimes by Chief Ministers or even Prime Minister. This was one day I have been called for a TV panel discussion more than once. Having deftly put myself into the frame let me now take the cat out of the bag. Yes, for those who guessed correctly, 11 th of July is World Population Day. A day when doomsday predictions of how rapidly India’s population is growing is reinforced along with the seemingly inconsolable fact that the day is nigh when our population will storm past that of China.  It is another national obsession with the Chinese dragon that we simply cannot get out of our head. Most educated Indians seem convinced that China has got their ‘population’ problem sorted while we Indians got it all wrong. Many admire the ‘one-child policy’ that China adopted in the 1970’s and see that ...

Who killed Father Stan, tell me if you can An old and frail man. Not I said the doctor, we did our best Gave all the drugs did all the tests. We did the best that we can We didn't kill Father Stan. He was old and he was frail. We spread the news even when in jail. The Media said we are in shock You just can't put us in the dock Not us, we don't make the rules, Activism - that's for fools! We follow orders from our boss Said the Policeman sounding cross Not I said the learned Judge From the law I do not budge. It’s the same for all in this land That has always been my stand Who killed Father Stan? I asked the man In his office in North Block Isn't it you who take stock? He thundered and he shook, Such questions I do not brook. We need a strong hand To run this holy land. He was in jail wasn't he? Must have done something don't you see? Do you really know this man Who you all call Father Stan? Coming out into the street. Sought out som...