REFLECTIONS

The London Underground Tube is more than 150 years old and runs mighty smoothly for its age! They have metro cards for regular travellers and tickets printed on card sheet paper for the less frequent ones. They are said to be very crowded during peak work hours in week days and people are always in a rush in this system of transport in London. Even on escalators leading in or out of a tube station people stand aside on their left so that they can allow for the daily office goers to rush forward from the right (This rule is followed everywhere in London believe it or not!) . And then I saw the Delhi metro. I don’t seem to remember what station I was at when I first encountered the agility of this service. But the station seemed very organised. I looked at the coin sized plastic token in my hand that the man on the ticket counter had handed my father. He was still wondering how to use it. I said we will figure it out, let’s go to the platform. As we walked we were greeted by a secur...

" A  pub crawl  (sometimes called a  bar tour ,  bar crawl  or  bar -hopping) is the act of one or more people drinking in multiple  pubs  or bars in a single night, normally travelling by foot or bus to each destination and occasionally by cycle."  "Well, we are doing a 'Caf é  Crawl'!" we thought aloud as we sat at the cafe inside Alliance Fran ç aise, on Max Mueller Marg in South Delhi, drinking our third round of beverages for the afternoon. It was a hot summer's day in May. We were draining ourselves to the hot and humid climate walking from a cafe to another, teasing our  palates. We started at Kunafa, an Arabic café that serves an  assortment  of Middle-Eastern sweets and a range of beverages including a variety of teas and coffees presented beautifully in jars behind glass counters. Located near the Meharchand Market in Lodhi colony, this place is a small café - more like a take away with...

What have RSS and other religiously finicky groups been thinking when they declare that conversions and re-conversions have been taking place since several years and that they are now converting masses. 'Ghar Wapsi' is a shame name given to this concept and what they need is self introspection. All those who are involved in this ridiculous activity should sit back, relax and think about what religion they really belong to!  Do we as individuals ever think about why we follow a certain set of rituals prescribed by our so-called religion? What is religion in the first place? Why are we branded with a certain religion and what inside us is the real religion? Thanks to my parents' teachings and a secular schooling in 'Fravashi Academy' I have grown up with friends from all religions and faiths and have always been taught at home to inculcate radical thinking about all faiths. To me, Religion is faith. Something that can keep me going in the worst of my days in life...