I am writing to you after a long gap. A sudden unanticipated inflow of work kept me occupied for the last two weeks. Such unexpected change in work schedule is part of scientific research. The work is not yet finished, but now I am getting used to the extra work. It also means that a lot of routine work has piled up — cleaning, organizing, refreshing social contacts, and yes, getting updated with what is going on in the world. So I sat down and browsed through the large pile of newspapers looking for anything interesting that I might have missed. Continue reading
When Your Post Is Not Delivered
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यदि सोशल नेटवर्किंग साइटों पर होने वाले तर्कों को देखें तो लगता है कि हम लोगों के पास किसी भी समस्या का समाधान नहीं है । इससे अधिक बुरी बात यह है कि पुराने मुद्दे सुलझते नहीं, और नए मुद्दे आते जाते हैं । मुझे तो यहाँ तक लगता है कि हममें विचार करने की शक्ति का ही अभाव है । बात अनन्त काल तक तर्क करते रहने और किसी भी नतीजे तक न पहुँचने की नहीं है । बात है तर्कों और विचार-विमर्श की गुणवत्ता की । किसी भी मुद्दे पर समाज की प्रतिक्रिया पढकर अब झल्लाहट ही होती है । फिर राजनेताओं और मंत्रियों की भाषा शैली ! ध्यान से देखें तो पाएँगे कि अधिकतर बातों में अथवा टिप्पणी में कोई संदेश होता ही नहीं है । इस पर प्रश्न उठता है कि यदि हम किसी भी विषय पर तार्किक टिप्पणी ही न कर सकें अथवा दूसरे के तर्क को सुन-समझ ही न सकें तो फिर हमारी 15 वर्षों की शिक्षा का क्या लाभ ? 
I consider myself fortunate to be born and brought up in the yoga capital of the world — Rishikesh, U.P., now in Uttarakhand — and having spent first 26 years of my life at that beautiful place. In fact, whatever you see in me, whether good or bad, belongs to Rishikesh. Of course, Ahmedabad and Kanpur did provide their valuable contribution in providing further knowledge and experiences, and also honed up my skills. For example, though I had been playing harmonica, performing yoga and making paintings ever since my childhood, it was only in Ahmedabad that I took formal lessons in harmonica, joined yoga classes (ironically!), learnt Bengali and Gujarati from my colleagues and started learning Russian. Living in Ahmedabad was the first time I had lived outside the Hindi culture. At Kanpur, I learnt German and French. However, it was only in Rishikesh that the initial impetus was provided and the spark to pursue lifelong learning was ignited. 
From email to social media to WhatsApp, technology-driven social communication has come a long way and that too in less than three decades. And it is further bound to grow and transform itself. Not only there is transformation in this mode of communication itself, but the basic characteristics of human relationship and communication has also changed. 
Every time I go to the book store, my eyes fall on one particular book. I don’t know what that book is about as I have never opened it. However, I like the title of that book, which probably summarizes its message — Don’t Say Yes, When You Want To Say No (by Herbert Fensterheim and Jean Baer). That is a very strong and direct message, and mostly that is the advice most of us require most of the time. In fact, I would say that most of the miseries in our lives are due to the inability to say ‘no‘, though that is the answer we would like to give. 
When at home, I used to lie on the terrace at night and look at the stars, plenty of stars. Light breeze from all directions stroked my cheeks, played with my hair. Oh! What a wonderful feeling! . . . a sense of expanse, no barriers, no constraints. 
A well known publisher once expressed his concern about the declining reading habit these days. He seemed to be extremely worried and started a discussion on Facebook asking how to encourage reading habit. Some people gave very good input. The discussion was over in a few days — the usual lifetime of any Facebook post. However, couple of months later, the publisher posted the same query once again! This time nobody replied to him. 
Pradyot 