By way of a disclaimer, the various issues appearing in this column, remarks made and points raised do not include in their ambit any or all of the idols, figures, statues, images and figurines of divinities worshipped by devotees of various faiths, taking care not to hurt their sentiments and beliefs. The monolithic figure of…

The idiom Better late than never, attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages achieving fame as an author, philosopher, astronomer and bureaucrat, who also composed a scientific treatise on the astrolabe (an instrument used by astronomers to study celestial bodies), is often used to acknowledge (perhaps begrudgingly) that…

Archaeologists are said to have discovered in 1920s an ancient civilisation in the erstwhile Indian subcontinent, which the historians called Indus Valley Civilisation or Harappan Civilisation. Also described as a Bronze Age Civilisation, the period lasting for 2000 years (3300-1300 BC). Evidence of religious practices in present Northwest India, according to scholars, date back to…

Leading lights in society of the past, both near and far on time scale, are more to be found in the sleepy pages of the land’s recorded history than remembered by present generation. Even the few among them whose life and exemplary deeds are recalled by some public speakers would have got erased from memory…

Economists have defined money as a medium of exchange in daily life and have also described it in many words. The maxim “Money is what money does,” described with utmost brevity, is attributed to Prof. Francis Amasa Walker (1840-1897), American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator and military officer. The idiom ‘money makes the mare…

The land’s people were informed, although belatedly, about a vision to be achieved. The Union Ministry of Urban Development launched Swachh Bharat Mission on Oct. 2, 2014 to bring about 4,000 towns and cities under the mission’s ambit. Essentially, the vision is to clean up the streets, roads, infrastructure of India’s cities, not to forget…

The idiom Every cloud has a silver lining is traced to the renowned English poet John Milton (1608-1674). The expression can be of immense influence in rekindling hopes of better days in the life of individuals facing bad times and of societies struggling to restore past glory. In the case of our country, the value…

The nation’s assets, facing the prospect of getting lost have currently emerged in public domain, sending people, forming themselves into voluntary groups, on a saving-spree, some of them not giving up, such as in Mysuru. The phenomenon of saving the assets has its origins in the event of God taking the form of fish to…

Out of ten incarnations (avatar) that Lord Vishnu took from time to time to eradicate evil forces, to restore the dharma, four were in the form of animals — fish, tortoise, boar and lion. Nine incarnations have appeared till now and the tenth will descend on Earth at the end of the Kali Yuga. The…

Simply  stated, the ground rule relating to life of all living forms on Planet Earth permits itself to be expressed in just four words: Live and let live. If that rule can be simpler and expressed in fewer words, we may have to look up to the wise in society. The multitude of living forms,…