REFLECTIONS

      It was in 2010 when I first saw PM Manmohan Singh from close quarters. It was his visit to Brazil to attend the BRICS Summit organized in the capital Brasilia. Prior to the visit I along with the Security team from India interacted with the Security agencies of Brazil apprising them of our requirement as well as the envisaged threats to the PM from various groups. On the arrival day I was part of the Embassy team to receive him. Looking into his eyes during hand shake is a moment still etched in my memory. "This man is so humble, so down to earth, so gentle, so unassuming...."-were some of the thoughts that ran in my head during that brief eye contact.      It was in one of the functions held few days after the visit that I realized the stature of Dr. MM Singh in the eyes of the world. I was surrounded by the group, I called Indian watchers, consisting of Chinese, Pakistan, Israel, US and UK Military Advisors. The talk veered on to the recently c...

  This article was written some time back. I posted it on X recently on the birth anniversary of Munshi Premchand Ji, whom I regard as one of the greatest writers. He was aptly called Upanyas Samrat (King of Novels). His stories need to be reintroduced in schools.

  GUIDE LINES FOR POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA      Socrates (469-399), hailed as the wisest person was one day faced with a friend who excitedly told him, "Socrates do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?" Socrates replied, "Wait. Before you tell me, I will subject you to a test called 'triple filter test'. The first filter is TRUTH. Are you sure that what you are going to tell me is true." The man replied, "No ...I just heard about it." " Fine", said Socrates, " So, you do not know if it is true or not. Now we try the second filter of GOODNESS. Is what you are going tell me about Diogenes something good?" The person stumbled, "No, on the contrary...".  "So," Socrates continued, "You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you're not certain it's true?" The person looked embarrassed. But Socrates continued,   "You may still pass the test though, because t...

  THE FAMILY THAT RUNS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER                    This article was written   in 2016 and published in the Hindustan Times , Chandigarh edition.                                                                                                                                                   

  OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY EXPERIMENT          Stanley Milgram, professor of psychology at Yale University, got interested in the topic ‘obedience’ during the trial of German Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann who was one of the architects of the Nazis “Final Solution” which oversaw the systematic execution of 6 million innocent jews. Like other high -profile war criminals, he too defended his actions as, ‘merely following orders of superiors.’   Milgram also, was intrigued by the acquiesce of normal German population to these mass killings. The agenda could have been set at top but the actual killings were carried out by officials down below and local population would have been aware and acceptable of such mass killings. Were they all demons or psychopaths? What conditions led people to become partner in such mass scale killings? These were the questions which Milgram wanted to test. The experiment had three participants. The ‘experimen...

  The following article was published in HT on 26Sep 2017. CHILD IS FATHER OF MAN Child is the mother of all reforms, at least for me. It is my closely guarded secret, but I grew up cheating frequently on the morning ritual of brushing teeth. The habit continued even after marriage till my daughter was two years and we thought of introducing her to dental hygiene. This simple task sent me into lot of soul searching. My conscience did not permit me to start the lesson till I pass the test of being a worthy teacher in my own eyes. It turned into my nirvana moment and I vowed to be sincere and regular in brushing. I do not know in what context Wordsworth wrote the famous line “Child is father of man”, but for me it means that whatever has not been learnt by you would be forced taught by your children. Like all parents we too wanted our kids to grow into responsible adults with good and healthy life style. The only way to achieve that, I discovered after running through multiple books ...

  ENGAGING IN SAREE DIPLOMACY IN BRAZIL      Diplomatic assignments abroad for Defence personnel are far few and elusive and hence considered prized. The tenure, though, has its own challenges professionally as well as socially. Hosting frequent parties for visiting delegations and diplomatic community is an essential part of such assignments which require considerable planning and effort. We however soon learnt tricks of trade and were doing well after completing 6 months and successfully hosting few such gatherings. Ladies group too was active and they conducted a regular event exclusively for ladies, café da manhã (Portuguese for Breakfast) hosted in turn by spouses of all Military Attaches. A typical such event would have as many as 40 ladies from as many countries. My wife’s turn came sooner than anticipated. While the menu was worked out after lot of brain scratching there was one aspect needing more ingenuity.       By convention such event...

  RASHOMON EFFECT.        A video emerged, post the Mayor elections in Chandigarh where the returning officer is seen surreptitiously writing more than he is required (he has to only sign the paper) on the ballot papers indicating that probably he is purposely trying to deface the ballots to make them invalid. The matter is being heard in the Supreme Court of India.       The results of the elections for the Mayor of Chandigarh were announced on 30th Jan. The results were in favour of BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar who secured 16 votes while the Congress-AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar got 12 votes.  Congress AAP side charged that there was something wrong with the process as 8 votes were declared as invalid which had made all the difference to the results. The matter reached the High Court for annulling the elections saying that the fraud and forgery has been committed . The High court refused to stay but sought response from from UT administ...

  THE MISSING CLASS Ours was the first batch of 10+2 system which replaced higher secondary pattern. For us the board exams meant that there would be no internal assessment and thus riddance from maintaining class and homework note books for good. This freedom was somewhat subdued by the lurking fear of the board exam as also the pressure from teachers and parents who projected it as a matter of life and death. The pressure to do well was all too evident. We took full advantage of it and took to skipping classes to self-study on the pretext that it would help us score more marks. However, soon such exercise turned into playing and movie sessions. Our easy life was broken by the sudden visit of the Board team to inspect the school. The focus could be on our class, being the first batch of 10+2 system. The teachers were under pressure and warned us to come lanced with class and homework assignments. With only one month left for the board exam most of us had tossed our note books re...