A minute with the president

There we were (year 1998), all suited and booted, the ‘few’ Indian families in Istanbul, fidgeting amongst other dignitaries waiting at the Hilton for the grand arrival of Indian president KR Narayanan. The occasion, ‘a breakfast with KRN’, arranged by the Indian consulate in Istamboul (as the consulate...

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Those were the days

First of all, I must admit that the impetus for this blog came from the programme ‘Witness’ on NDTV. Regrettably I saw only the last part of it. Curiously, it covered a lot of things that were close to my heart…of times that had gone by…I remembered the Vijay Scooter. My friend got an opportunity to...

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Mom and the PC

Mom was here with us the last two months. It had been her long cherished desire to visit Britain, and she was brave enough at age 78 to take the flight all alone from Bangalore to Heathrow. What I admired most was her tenacity, coming all the way from Pallavur, struggling with her gait and with a Quadra...

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Filter coffee

RK Narayan said in ‘My Day’s - Whenever I could afford it, I gave them a cup of coffee at a restaurant on Hundred Feet Road. The cup of coffee blunted the listeners' critical faculties and made them declare my work a masterpiece. So guys, would you please drink a cup of filter coffee before reading...

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The Barometer & lateral thinking

Has always been a classic, so I will reproduce it as I got it. The I in the story is not me, but a professor…here goesSome time ago I received a call from a colleague, who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer...

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The Princess spy

"I wish some Indians would win high military distinction in this war. It would help to build a bridge between the English and the Indians."Whenever I passed the Baker Street tube station in London, it was the thought of Sherlock Holmes that sprang to my mind. Until I read about the WWII - SOE operations...

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Indian tractor to the rescue!

Years ago, I learned how to drive a tractor. We had one of the few tractors in Pallavur then. The first to come was a greenish coloured Russian tractor, followed by a spanking new red ‘International’ machine. The village was slowly weaning away from bullock powered tilling and had started to entrust...

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Bondaegi

JY dared me ‘well, if you wish, you could try it, trust me, the taste is good’. But I was not so sure anymore. Bondaegi, up close and personal smelled awful.I have been to Seoul a few times in the 90’s. Seoul is a great city, real big, with millions of people teeming about, hustling & bustling like...

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A reminder from an unknown author

This is another of those great pieces that originated from an unknown author somewhere, someplace......

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