Blue Peepal

The celebrated ghazal singer broke into explaining the beauty of poet’s imagination: “Pyaar ka pehla, ishq ka doosra aur mohabbat ka tisara luvz adhura hota hai” (The poet describes that first letter in pyaar , second letter in ishq and third letter in mohabbat are half characters) “Iss liye hum aapko chahte hain, kyunki chahat ka har luvz pura hota hai” (Instead, the poet chose to describe his love as whole, using the word chahat which has no half characters!) The auditorium sprang with applause as the meaning steadily seeped into the consciousness of its audience. The poetry enveloped in Hindustani classical music made the evening riveting. It was my third consecutive year of spending one musical evening with greatest artists from India’s rich musical heritage; each time it grows my curiosity, awe and reverence. Here are some impressions from the craft that these artists display, that I find every day relevance. Humility Each of the artists had over...

A maiden trip to any country is not without its curiosities and anticipation; my US trip wasn’t either. Couple of weeks before my journey, an interesting slice of history caught my attention about United States link with India. In the heat of World War II, when India’s own struggle for Independence was reaching its inflection point, Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) had attempted more than once to persuade Churchill to commit to self-government of colonies post-war, and with reference to India in particular. For some more context from history, FDR and Churchill had issued a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter in August 1941, which was a statement of “common principles” towards the war aims. FDR’s nudge to Churchill for India’s freedom was under the agreed principles – peoples right to self-determination. The Atlantic Charter was one of the foundation stone to modern United Nations. As my flight touched down on JFK, the excitement did have some historic fervour. The cloudy ...

A reflection on future of work, society and self Imagine waking up to your personal assistant (PA), say like an Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana or, may be an independent chatbot greeting you, then walking you through the important To-Dos of the day and asking what would be your breakfast preference! Let’s then have this PA on to a drone like device, which means your PA is not a static device like your TV or, music system but flies around the house and can also fly in your neighbourhood and some more. When you are not around, it is connected to other devices in the house including your security system. It has a good idea of your preferences, and with your usage also understands your family and friend circle. Interestingly, the drone with a PA like smart-device is not a projection into the future, but featured in a science fiction comedy – “Flubber”, starring Robin Williams that was released in 1997 , a good 21 years ago . The PA was called “Weebo”. The professor’s home ha...