The 7-rupee nimbu

India’s economy is like a balloon: it gets bigger and bigger, but why does it leave a sour note? The other day I paid ₹28 for four limes. ₹7 for a single nimbu? How could...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/sJOv4md

Understanding the universe anew

Evidence of design, intelligence, and a purpose are integral elements of a live Universe, Creation. These are but qualities or attributes and need to be manifested by some agency. That is to say, can there...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/n9emT3F

Half the world votes this year, will climate take center stage in campaigns?

Did you know this year is host to the greatest spectacle of democracy, not just in India but worldwide, as a whopping 64 countries (plus, the European Union elections) prepare for their national elections in 2024?...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/wx4XhR1

Helping hand for Lotus

Rajya Sabha election results are one more indicator of how hungrily BJP fights to win. And the party is aided by Congress harbouring the wrong kind of ambition BJP’s unexpected success in Rajya Sabha polls...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/ZCLvmPK

Hands: Crafting connections, shaping destinies

by Homayun Taba I used to marvel at the dexterity of my dad’s brother’s small hands. A professional magician, working with an audience at close quarters, it was as though he was gifted with a...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/4uK5inU

Seat-scaring

Welcome to the election edition of Indian Matchmaking Move over, Sima Aunty. The possibilities of electoral alliances are asima. Just as royal alliances were historically sealed by marriage, our political ones are aimed at securing...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/fu3Reib

Get ready to dance with both arms free

-By Marguerite Theophil Sacred teachers of spiritual and cultural traditions the world over often offer Teaching Stories, rather than moralistic preaching. Teaching Stories invite us to step across a threshold, as it were, to more...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/pomXO3H

Swipe right on sci-fi

Mr Right can now be a robot or AI Coming soon to a store near you: Romeo and Juliet with large keys at their back. Of course, inter-species romances are not new. Rakshasi Hidimba fell...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/knW8EBU

Love, distraction, separation and union

How relevant is Jayadev’s Gita Govinda for today’s youth? Lucknow-born Guru Pali Chandra, Zurich-based kathak exponent, reinvents and reinterprets the 12th century Sanskrit work as inspiration for those facing challenges in relationships. She reveals how...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/Ct9RrBD

My Take 5 (Edition 8): The week that was in international affairs

It’s been a hectic week so we are going to be quick with the latest warp of international news. Here we go…   Ukraine War enters third year: On February 24, the war in Ukraine...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/M1wlWFr

Not seating pretty: Oppn seat sharing finally starts. But big, possibly unsolvable problems remain

In what must be a huge relief for Congress, its seat-sharing exercise with INDIA alliance partners is finally producing some results. Congress has stitched up deals with SP in UP and MP and AAP in...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/bzGfieK

Honesty, humility, faith aid in realising God

Avatar Meher Baba There is no other ready means to start knowing our inner Self than through complete honesty. Honesty with one’s fellow beings is the first step; from this comes honesty with oneself. It...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/t6gKNFb

Kutum-bunkam

Netas have little use for polit-family bondage ‘Happy families’ was a childhood card game. Real life seldom dealt you such an obliging hand. Tolstoy’s unhappy families, each with its unique version of distress, were later...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/V73kS8M

Saying tata to foreign airlines with new Air India

Air India has released a very elegantly made video that uses various Indian classical dances to convey safety instructions on board. Although there is a notable omission of kuchipudi in the line-up, it’s a cool...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/CIH1RTP

What do recent elections mean for Pakistan and India?

Results of the recent National Assembly elections held on February 8 in Pakistan were unexpected.  In spite of the arrest of Imran Khan, the head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (“PTI”) party and other PTI leaders, banning...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/zut0NEs

Ameen Sayani, and the power of the voice

When I heard the news of veteran broadcaster Ameen Sayani’s death at 91, like thousands of others, I shared an image on social media mourning the passing of a golden-voiced icon. Only later did the...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/TbaESOJ

Celebrating the shakti we call Maa, Mata, Amma

By Anil D Ambani On my 50th birthday, my mother, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani, dug out the pillow that used to lie in my crib. She had embroidered the words, ‘Mothers hold their children’s hands for...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/F0PhsUV

Self-realisation, a move from gross to subtlest

Shardha Batra Our greatest treasure lies beyond material power and emotional fulfilments. It is the true Self lying hidden in the heart. The Atman is our true eternal Self. The Mandukya Upanishad says, ‘Ayam atma...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/S7OJ4Gx

RJ number one

The King of Countdowns is no more. Though it is a while since we last heard the familiar voice of Ameen Sayani boom amiably at us, it plays in our ears forever. A casual conversational...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/pg9xEuw

The Nariman points

Fali Nariman came of age as an adult in 1947, the year India became independent. Those were heady days – India was ready to take its place on the world stage with promises of liberty,...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/bCwsB7y

Four gates to access Yog Vasisht’s wisdom

-V S Krishnan In the midst of peace and tranquility that prevailed in Ayodhya, Prince Ram once found traces of sorrow among people. He pondered questions such as: What is the meaning of life which...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/8bArnXY

Rule of jungle: You can’t just plant a forest

Planting some trees doesn’t begin to compensate for ecological costs of destroying forests Over the last few months, the legal regime that covers India’s forests has been comprehensively overhauled with the amendment to the Forest...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/jdNTBm3

Religion, a precise science of creating clarity

By Osho Religion is not superstition; it is not belief. It is not at all a dogma in which you can believe; it is something to be experienced. Just as science works through experimentation, religion...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/dmsaxOB

Hold your peace, it’s war

Peace is a many-sundered thing. For Putin, it means demilitarised, regime-changed Ukraine. For Zelensky, it entails ‘we all finish’ Putin. For Biden, it mandates Ukraine’s (uncertain) victory – via war that boosts US arms-making. For...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/9V1Eojl

Gita shows you the pathway to excellence

-By Jaya Row Is it possible to attain perfection or is human being flawed by nature? The world demands faultless action from us. Yet excellence seems like a distant dream. Our ancestors pursued and attained...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/O29Hy1L

Rich by AI: How US billionaires are raking it in tells India how to climb the next big wave of wealth-creation

It’s big but not surprising. As much as 96% of wealth gained on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index this year is in AI-related stocks. Giant waves of innovation have spawned giant wealth-creation since the first industrial...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/LyYiEuO

‘Triple A’ personality: Anant, Akash, Anand

Narayani Ganesh When you are fractured inside, you cannot feel integrated and whole. In this situation, naturally, you feel torn apart, especially when faced with challenges; you are anxious about rights and wrongs, duties and...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/MZ4sYXJ

A guide to innovation for nonprofits

As nonprofits grow, innovation tends to take a backseat. Here’s how they can foster a culture of experimentation in their work. The social sector comprises nonprofits, funders, practitioners, and other entities that are trying to...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/gPGlFw5

Dairy Myth

A long-standing, prevalent belief champions dairy as the perfect food. While it may indeed be ideal for calves it is not the case for humans. The perfect food for humans is human milk, and that...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/QpGryhl

Why resource distribution is creating a North-South divide

Over the last few days, there have been calls to form an economic alliance of southern states for equal resource distribution. Chief ministers from states such as Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu held demonstrations in...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/1kKYVLZ

Stay anchored in god to weather life’s storms

-Sant Rajinder Singh At some point in life, we feel the sting of loneliness. During these times, we find there is no one to support us, and we become despondent, succumbing to worry and anxiety....

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/SrdsDlW

Coal satyagraha: Adivasis reclaim their natural resources

People in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district have set up their own coal company and built an ecosystem for sustained resistance against corporate mining. On January 5, 2008, the people of Khamariya village, and the villages nearby,...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/ojbi9m4

Junked Bonds: SC opens the door to reforming political funding by burying electoral bonds

Landmark is an overused descriptor. But there’s no other word to describe Supreme Court’s unanimous judgment declaring electoral bonds unconstitutional. SC upheld the principle of transparency in political funding. The judgment may not entirely clean...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/m4dK6AO

Is your spiritual practice a disguised ego trip?

Christopher Mendonca We are often creatures of habit and seem to be wired for distraction. These two factors sometimes collude to hamper our search for meaning as we journey inwards along spiritual paths. At times...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/WZyxthO

Gujarat boy who became modern cricket’s whispering death

With the India-England Test series tantalisingly poised at 1-1 and the third Test beginning today in Rajkot, pace-ace Jasprit Bumrah, surprisingly on home pitches, is leading India’s wicket-taking charts. This has evoked comparisons with another...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/fO1w2tF

Love untouched, mystique of platonic connection

-By Sumit Paul ‘Humne dekhi hai un aankhon ki mahakti khushboo/Haath se chhoo ke ise rishton ka ilzaam na do/Sirf ahsaas hai ye rooh se mahsoos karo/Pyaar ko pyaar hi rahne do koi naam na...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/KB9thFA

How Jamini Roy revived the hues of my past

Fate lines have curious crossings. My newly reconnected old colleague, Kounteya, was curating a selection of 43, rarely seen, large Jamini Roys. Cruelly I was leaving town just before its opening. But serendipitously I got ...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/r8kdMGc

A daze of days: Too many days of this & that, all too confusing

In an appropriately smoochy curtain raiser to today’s Valentine’s Day, commemorating Cupid, yesterday was reportedly Kiss Day, a 24-hour period during which literally lip-service was supposedly paid to the act of osculation. Fortunately for those...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/FapsqLe

Basant asks us to shift from wanting to giving

By- Brahma Kumari Shivani One vision envisaged by many of us is the re-establishment of Ram Rajya, which was witnessed during an era when each soul was a giver of peace, love and happiness. However,...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/GND50tc

We are nothing but love, get ready to live it

By- James Anderson No word in our language is more misused than ‘love’. So much baseness masquerades under its compelling disguise. Love has many gradations and torrid ingredients in us deform this supreme state. Yet,...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/xQMn0jF

Dig baby dig

Critical minerals race is on. India must work with US-led group to secure these strategic resources It’s good that GOI is looking to press the accelerator on securing supply chains in critical minerals. Critical mineral...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/gzura8N

Swami Dayananda’s pursuit of ultimate truth

Ashok Vohra ‘What is the divine truth and how does one find it?’ is the question to which all sages try to find an answer in their own time. Though the Vedas say, ‘Ekam sad...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/w2nZKIv

Poonam Pandey’s misguided stint: A call for accountability in celebrity influence and Cancer awareness

Poonam Pandey undoubtedly succeeded in her goal of becoming a topic of conversation albeit by throwing ethics, sensitivity and basic empathy to the winds. Until she put out a fake announcement about her demise on...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/XutO0p4

Are DRE technologies the future of rural livelihoods?

Decentralised renewable energy (DRE) technologies can support the growth of small businesses and microenterprises in rural India. Here’s how grassroots nonprofits can help. Over the past decade, access to electricity has increased significantly among rural...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/R9GOzdK

Monetary policy demystified interest rate trajectory

As expected, the repo rate has been kept intact at 6.5 percent for close to a year with the status quo in the current monetary policy review. Its stance remains focused on withdrawing accommodation to...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/BmGALXZ

Love and let live-in: State should keep its nose out of people’s bedrooms

I have been with my partner for 12 years now, six years married, six years in a live-in relationship. We shared a home, a bed, bills and three cats. “So why not get married?” People...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/OaxBNRt

Choose well: Power of choice is power of God

Swami Swaroopananda As the crown of creation, we have been blessed with the most sophisticated and unique gift of a human form. And as human beings, we have the power of choice, the ability to...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/QFJYmyf

Putin it simply

American journo interviews a Russian, other Americans lose it, cancel culture is nuts A journalist of one country interviewed the big boss of another country, which started a war that’s grinding on two years later....

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/7EgPwiY

Way to keep law of money magnetism in motion

Shivani Lucki If you were a trader in China in 1200 BCE, you would carry cowrie shells as an accepted form of representative money in Africa, Asia, and Australia. The Native American Indians used shells,...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/3kXKVDa

To see life as an infinite gamble

Jug Suraiya Can you give meaning to life through a gamble? Recently in Goa I saw French director Eric Rohmer’s 1969 film, Ma Nuit Chez Maud (My Night At Maud’s), which won several awards, including...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/MR1Nxue

Cold comforts

Kolkata writes its own Winter’s Tale. Oori babba, bishon Thanda! Winter is on its way out of Kolkata, and so, alas, am I. I’ve shivered and snuggled my way through it to my sweaters’ content,...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/X7QoF0Y

Minority report: There’s a minor problem in being a two-in-one, both a democracy and a republic

A couple of Bhaisahibs on their morning constitutional, discussing the Constitution. 1st Bhaisahib: That was an interesting article in TOI about why India became not just a democracy but also a republic. 2nd Bhaisahib: Yup. It said...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/aK5ZbgP

Eagle told me this when I flew with it up high

By Kishore Asthana Once, when I flew with eagles high, one said to me with a sigh, “You humans are such misguided creatures. You must have some awful teachers.” “I’m a soaring eagle, sharp of...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/TNFkMvb

Bhagwat Jha Azad: A journey of courage, commitment, and transformative leadership

From the youthful bravery of the Quit India Movement to the halls of parliament and the corridors of power, Bhagwat Jha Azad’s journey exemplifies the transformative potential of courage and dedication. His legacy, etched in...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/KeAdMVF

To link or delink neural connections

By- Deepak Ranade Communication with outer world is one of the most important attributes of human nervous system. Neural networks in our brain communicate via a complex mechanism, initiating a wave of depolarisation effected by...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/ET1paMw

When the four of us went on a trip together, well almost!

‘16 MLAs have been shifted from Bihar to the Taj resort in Hyderabad.’  I read in the newspaper. And why this generous holiday in a posh resort for people whose job profile is anyway one...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/YvAB2oF

When Descartes, Vedanta try to know the self

Ganesh Kolambakar René Descartes, a 17th-century French philosopher, introduced the statement ‘I think, therefore I am’, as a fundamental element of his philosophical method of self-inquiry. He began by doubting everything, even the existence of...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/RLgyY7C

Myth: Better safe than sorry

What does “better safe than sorry” mean to you? Most people believe it is safer to continue taking certain medications rather than risk slightly elevated blood pressure, blood sugar or cholesterol levels. But what if...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/eyQKRtW

The one-page CV: A key to unlock elite careers

As someone who has reviewed over 100,000 CVs in elite careers such as venture capital, investment banking, and corporate law, I’ve consistently noticed one thing: the most effective CVs for early carers and professionals are...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/bhwA4fF

Myth: Better safe than sorry

What does “better safe than sorry” mean to you? Most people believe it is safer to continue taking certain medications rather than risk slightly elevated blood pressure, blood sugar or cholesterol levels. But what if...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/MqdD7zk

With Imran in doghouse, is Pakistan poll result a done deal? Not really

Déjà vu is the predominant sense that hangs over the forthcoming general election in Pakistan on Feb 8. A principal protagonist, former PM Imran Khan, is in jail, barred from contesting. He has been sentenced...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/mdlScL6

One Chineej, many Chinas

I was six when I first tasted Chinese food. Pigeon Roast in a restaurant called Eros, at the edge of Kolkata’s crumbling ‘New’ Market, a plump little bird rich with what I now know to...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/WVlxgtM

Allow Ram and Sita’s love to flow through you

By Dena Merriam On inauguration of new Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, I share my own experience at a Raghunath temple in Jammu. It was just a simple temple, no one was there, it is not...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/xK9gpYt

Explained: Interim budget’s unwavering focus on poor

Convention has it that FM does not introduce any substantial measures in an interim budget, and if she were to do so a new government could easily change course. A conventional FM would be expected...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/Lvcb6la

In knowledge economy, Lakshmi chases Saraswati

By Ram Krishna Sinha Twenty-first century is the age of knowledge economy that relies on intellectual capital. Its main features are education and skills, information and technology infrastructure, research, and innovation system. This economic model...

from Times of India Opinion https://ift.tt/xzdLBVn