Suyash Sharma

 Afghanistan is the elephant in the room, a topic for discussions on the idiot box, in the drawing rooms, in coffee houses, print media and of course our think tanks. Indians have a rather deep and historic as well as mythological connect with Afghanistan and Afghans. Kandahar in fact was a major princely state in […]

 Taking off from where I left off last time on Immersion rods, while primarily immersion rods were used for heating of water, but its miniature version was used for heating water in a small tumbler for shaving. NDA cadets by nature are expert in ‘jugaad‘, actually as a nation we resort to jugaad in every possible

 “Main aur mera phone aksar yeh baatein karte hain…“.I often talk to my mobile, in other words indulge in soliloquy; if it weren’t for you I would be sitting and having a drink with friends, guffawing away to glory reliving old times with them and not merely texting them. If it weren’t for you, I

  Millennials would possibly not be familiar with the once ubiquitous Immersion rods, which were found in all middle class households without exception. May be they should have called it an immersion “coil”, wonder why??A misnomer obviously, because while it was immersed alright but it was actually a coil with two identical symmetrical rods at

 “Chewing the honey’d cud”, that is how rumination was described by Keats, if I am not wrong, what a beautiful metaphor! I was wondering, how was I reminded of this, actually I was relishing some Jamun, which has now acquired a distinct exotic aura and aroma ever since it graduated to the neatly packed plastic

 That is me, many moons ago, actually 34 years to be precise, with a healthy growth on the head. Over these years while most of us have greyed, some like me have gone bald but that is not the sum total of these decades. It’s 34 years today since we took the proverbial “Last step”

 “To mask or not to mask”, borrowing from the Bard’s Hamlet “To be or not to be”, obviously the similarities are stark, masking actually is being, and without the mask is an invite to “not to be” almost akin to committing suicide. Masks have become a way of life in the past about 15 months

Sameer Anukul, 16304, 49 Div, Mike Squadron, NDA Wing Ghorpuri, a thin and wiry spectacled young boy with a ready smile, that is the recollection of our first meeting. We were roommates, with Reuben Peters, NA Vinod, KPS Rana, Sameer and self. Quite a motley bunch of cadets, Peters from Orissa now Odisha, the NDA

There was a time, when the thermometer inserted into the mouth, one was hoping and praying to the Lord Almighty, please let the mercury be at 99 at least and higher the better, a 101 was a sure Att”C” (Sick in quarter) for 72 hours, but even a 99 would get you at least 24

  Potbellies grow and stay forever, the realisation dawns on you rather late. Initially you tend to ignore it, thinking it is just an irritant and will simply disappear by itself. This rotund growth which surreptitiously appeared and decided to hang on despite my best efforts to shake it off. The long brisk walks and exercises