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Could the Karnataka drama have had a different climax than the one that we have just witnessed? Well may be yes maybe no depending on what are your expectations and sensibilities or maybe which side of the political divide you are on, the secular/communal or the pseudo secular variety. Is our election process akin to […]

“Una hirundo non facit ver”, that is Latin for “One swallow does not a summer make!”, I am sure you must have read of this maxim somewhere. But in Nilgiris, it is not just one sparrow, there are scores of them here chirping, hopping about like a lark. I wonder if you all have noticed

At the outset, I must apologise for plagiarising the title from Stephen Spielberg, the oldies would surely recall his first contact with the aliens in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, before he introduced “ET”, the Extra terrestrial. Hairdressers or Barbers, as we used to refer to them, back then, also bear a remarkable similarity

BEING A SPORT Did you just say Table tennis? No that is no game; real men play troop games you know, the hockey football variety and Rimcollians well they box…… In the worst case maybe the officer like tennis or squash, but for heaven’s sake don’t even think of indulging in this lowly pursuit while

PASAN PERIPHERY PUS “Pasan periphery pus”…….the most commonly heard phrase, if you may call it a phrase in the academy, some of you may be wondering what the hell is this? Is it a limerick or a nursery rhyme, with something to follow, well..it is just that and what follows is a take off by

After having successfully completed almost 52 weeks of training we the motley group of the Eightieth regular course at Dehradun were about to embark on the toughest challenge which was the culmination of all that our worthy instructors tried to  literally drill it into us, Camp Chindits. The camp is reported to be amongst the

After having successfully completed almost 52 weeks of training we the motley group of the Eightieth regular course at Dehradun were about to embark on the toughest challenge which was the culmination of all that our worthy instructors tried to  literally drill it into us, Camp Chindits. The camp is reported to be amongst the

Balkar, the Water-man, was at his usual spot at this time of the day, I always wondered how did he synchronise his arrival with such precision; which always got him here immediately after we finished our lunch on the portico in the mess overlooking the very picturesque Shamshabari Ranges.  A neat yellow turban tied more

In laws out laws!! I think it was Reader’s Digest which used to have this feature where some interesting and amusing anecdotes were recounted bringing a smile on most of our faces. As bachelors, these features only strengthened our resolve to stay the course and not get tied down literally(!). Oh those days and of

The landscape in Rajasthan is beautiful only if you have an eye for the desert.  In the wilderness, virgin sand dunes a-la-Lawrence of Arabia are not found everywhere.  There are specific hamlets where these are being preserved for tourist attraction. The people are simple, rustic and living in the pre industrial age, small ‘Dhanis’ every