The saying that an army marches on its feet may sound strange in our times, given the dominance of air power in waging wars, remote-controlled missiles that hit targets after cruising thousands of kilometres and, not to forget, robots and crew-less flying machines. The similar-sounding expression “An army marches on its stomach,” attributed to Napoleon…

Societies all over the world stand identified and classified in myriad ways helped by many characteristics, some handed down through the process of natural selection into races and the rest contrived by humans dictated by expediency at different times over centuries. The case of India’s current estimated 1.3 billion headcount falls into a special slot…

Many a public speaker, addressing an audience comprising a mix of diverse backgrounds, finds it fascinating to dwell on the land’s glorious past, not forgetting to lament in impressive rhetoric about the current decline in the values of life carefully nurtured and guarded by past generations. Some semblance of the ways of life traced to…

Sculptures adorning the land’s places of worship in virtually all regions across its length and breadth by artisans whose identity is sadly lost in antiquity have almost preserved their original image over centuries but for the uncultured act of iconoclasts as recorded by chroniclers at different periods in the long history of the sub-continent. While…

The question mark next to the middle term in the caption for this column is intended to raise issues connected to the role of the land’s masses, specially the literati and intelligentsia, expected as well as required to be played by them (or not played by all who have a duty by their motherland) in…

Going by the description of the term entrepreneur, namely “an individual who, rather than working as an employee, runs a small business and assumes all the risks and rewards of a business venture, idea, or goods or service offered for sale” at one end and “The entrepreneur is commonly seen as a business leader and…

India of ancient times, the then Bharatavarsha, much more in geographical area than that of the country after, and even before partition, has played host to scholars seeking knowledge at its zenith, a feature narrated in the history of Nalanda University, which is said to have on its rolls a 2,000-strong faculty and 10,000 students…

If somebody writes a detailed account of the origins and the current scenario of humans attiring themselves, it should make a highly enjoyable as well as informative read. Believers may favour visualising the Biblical characters Adam and Eve roaming about in the Garden of Eden totally unattired, until the moment of biting the forbidden fruit….

The optimists may revel while leafing through the pages of volumes of data portraying the nation’s economic health year after year. The pessimists, who enjoy hurling harsh criticism on administration of the day, even describe officially disclosed data relating to the various sectors of the country’s economy. The moderates believe that reality lies some where…

The land’s newspapers of all hues may well have overfilled the space in their columns reporting happenings leaving the people at large, particularly the elderly sections in society, aghast. A leisurely walk amidst their regular gatherings in the evenings at chosen locations such as parks and various untenanted public places including paved frontages of shops…