TEA TREATS OR SOMETHING’S BREWING As we have spent so many months at home now, one turns to hobbies to pass time. After all there is just so much television one can watch. Music is a great companion in these distressing days where gloom and doom are permanent bedfellows. Listening to classical music brings me to the topic...
TEA TREATS OR SOMETHING’S BREWING Guess what? Tea remains the second most widely consumed beverage after water. And in case you feel guilty for consuming all those endless cuppas at work – don’t worry. Common facts on tea indicate it is rich in antioxidants, can help shield our immune systems, is capable of stopping infections, and can...
ADS THAT DON’T LIE Completing a little over a year, the Consumer Protection Act has been a godsend for the common man. The primary objective of the act is to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers. Take the advertising industry, as an example, in just one month, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI)...
THE MIND MATTERS With more than 300 million cases around the world, depression is the single largest public health problem in the world according to the World Health Organization. And these figures have nothing to do with the pandemic which, needless to say, increased mental health challenges, thanks to isolation, fear and loss of livelihood and normalcy. A...
HOLY VIBES Like everything in the lockdown, the annual Ganpathi festival has been a revelation. Whether you are a devout believer, an atheist or neutral observer, the festival has come at a time when we have witnessed the absolute worst (we now have the largest per day rise in covid19 victims of any country) and absolute best...
SAFE TRAVELS Remember what airport security was like after 9/11? Removing shoes and belts at airport security and that cumbersome rule about no liquids in hand luggage? Well, now that’s part and parcel of air travel and we are so used to it that we cannot even remember anything less stringent. With the slight resurgence of travel, the luxury...
DON’T STAY AWAY FROM STRAYS Life for stray animals and their caretakers before the pandemic and lockdown was challenging. It was full of ignorance and apathy at its best and cruelty and violence at its worst. Currently, the plight of strays during these trying times is worse than normal in many ways with a growing number...
MY MONSOON MENU Have you ever changed your diet to protect your body from the onslaught of the burning heat or the bitter cold? Probably not. And what about the monsoons? Do we examine our tiffins (instead of our tyres) to see if they will get us through the slush and rain? Certain dietary strategies can...
GET YOUR ZOOM ON! So as we prepare for another week / fortnight / month of lockdown it’s become routine to grab the car keys, wallet, gloves and mask before heading out to work or on an errand. And I’ve come up with some interesting almost humorous observations on my limited outings. The other day, I was...
MISSING THE CLUB CULTURE “Stay home, stay safe” may be the new mantra of the day but to tell you the truth I am missing my home… Not the one I share with my wife and kids but my ‘sanctum sanctorum’ - the place I head to after office most evenings for a cup of coffee, a Kejriwal...
WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN You either love jazz or hate it! You simply cannot be a bystander unless you are tone-deaf. For the musical mathematician in you, the syncopatic swing beat can drive you delirious and make you want to jump with joy or like it made my friend in the US ask: “why do...
EVEN DINOSAURS NEED DIGITAL I can still remember the day when I got my first mobile phone sometime in the mid-1990s. It was chunky, clunky, seemed like a small ‘truncheon’ and better suited to being a weapon than a communication device! In contrast, on Tuesday the 7th of July, I used my very ‘smart phone’ to connect...