Hi! These are difficult times. A pandemic caused by a virus, which is highly contagious and occasionally fatal, rages in our world. The biggest economies, the technical giants and the wizards in the world of medical sciences have been brought down on their knees. Virus seems to know what it wants from our bodies but our body’s protection gear hasn’t yet learnt to deal with this new invader. Neither does our supremely wonderful mind know the ways of this tiny mischievous blob of genetic material, which has played truant by abandoning its legitimate home in search for a new abode.   It is this fear of unknown, the ominous uncertainty just around the corner, which has turned our lives topsy-turvy. For a period, virus thrives in our bodies, does not produce any outwardly signs of its occupancy, yet remains capable of invading more innocent bodies to continue its relentless goal of reproducing its sparse genetic material. This is the most potent recipe to leave behind maximum c

Nonfiction The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves Matt Ridley             Pessimism with regards to future of human race or for that matter in context of all species of living organisms on earth and the earth itself is all pervading in intelligentsia. Belief that quality of our lives will be worse in the future is so well entrenched that anyone who harbours a contrary view will be considered ignorant. Matt Ridley claims in this book that human beings have been experiencing increasingly more prosperous life since their origin. He further postulates that trade is the cause of this incessant rise in our quality of lives.             In an early chapter he cites innumerable statistics to illustrate his contention that prosperity is increasing. Life has only moved towards increasing affluence: from meteoric rise in life expectancy and hugely reduced incidence of disease, availability of a plethora of commodities from toilet paper to supersonic aircrafts for air travel,

Novel Three Men in A boat Jerome K. Jerome Three friends, George, William Harris and the author-himself-the narrator of the tale- sit in a room, discussing their maladies, for all of them are ill. But they know not of what. The conclusion they reach is, ‘whatever it was- had been brought on by over work’, and all they want is some rest. Thus, is hatched the great plan to ‘go up the river’, a boating trip from Kingston to Oxford on Thames. Their fourth partner in the trip is Montmorency, a Rat Terrier. This is an evergreen classic, featuring in most, ‘Greatest novels of all time’ lists. We had an excerpt form the book in our English textbook in school. It has been on my wishlist for decades. I was reminded of it a few days back, as the blurb in an Eric Newby’s book, which I was then reading, compared Newby’s book, Slowly Down the Ganges, with Jerome K. Jerome’s story. I ordered the book and picked it up soon after finishing Newby. I realised, postponing it for years was m

Science Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? Paul Davies Since time immemorial man has repeatedly asked these questions; why was this universe created, what is the role of man in it? Progress of science and human reason (and philosophy) gave us finer and more convincing explanations to these basic questions but one question always remained in the end; why this particular explanation? Every theory; Big Bang, Inflationary Universe, Multiverse, or Intelligent Design, leads to this infinite regression of why this particular theory and who chose and why he chose this particular theory to create universe? How did He come into existence? Einstein in his last days was frenetically looking for the ultimate Grand Unified Theory (GUT) which would unite all the forces in the universe and provide a simple explanation for its existence. But success eluded him and more than sixty years after his death physicists are still looking for this holy grail of science. Str

Novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold John le Carre I first read this book about twenty years back. It hit me like a bolt from blue. Till then I had not read any espionage book of such intensity. The book and Alec Leamas haunted my thoughts for long. Over the years I forgot the smaller details and the plot, but remembered the overall gloomy atmosphere of the novel which had so enticed me then. Yes, this I feel, is the most distinguishing character of the book. If there is a colour in the book it is grey, an all-pervading grey. John le Carre is unsparing in painting the frailties of his characters, the commonplace follies of all men and the ultimate futility of much of human scheming and endeavour. Second unique facet of book is the way author has deglamourized the Spy. ‘What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They’re a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors also, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play Cowboys and Indians to brighte

Memoir/Science Double Helix- A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA James D. Watson Discovery of the structure of DNA molecule has been hailed as one of the foremost scientific feat of twentieth century. DNA is the molecule of life. Thus, when Francis Crick ‘winged in to the Eagle (a bar at Cambridge) to tell everyone within hearing distance that we had found the secret of life’, he was in fact mouthing the plain truth, though making Watson ‘slightly queasy’. This short book is an account of events which led to this ingenious and monumental discovery, written by one of the lead players in this quest, James D. Watson. Watson was then merely twenty-four years old. He has written these memoirs as he then saw the world, the events, and personalities involved, i.e., through the eyes of a young scientist who is in a hurry to make his mark in the world of science and earn a Noble Prize. Narration is exceedingly frank and unpretentious. There is no allus

Despair is the most devastating of our emotions. It is not mere absence of happiness or presence of anguish. It is an all pervasive atmosphere of gloom, a thick miasma of despondency, when all that mind's eye can see are blobs of a uniform grey colored mist that stretch till infinity.  I believe animals can emote too. They can be sad or happy. But only human beings can despair. For despair needs the unique human capability to speculate about future. Despair results from the dense hopelessness, the inability to detect a single source of joy in future. We constantly see ourselves in future. Our minds are capable of extrapolating present circumstances at a future point in time and imagine how these would affect us then. That such ruminations rarely come true has no bearing on our present mood. No other species of animals has this unique capability to live in future.  Despair has moved poets in a monumental way and has engendered some of the most sublime verses in literature. I

कोई उम्मीद बर नहीं आती मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब कोई उम्मीद बर नहीं आती   कोई सूरत नज़र नहीं आती   मौत का एक दिन मुअय्यन है   नींद क्यूँ रात भर नहीं आती आगे आती थी हाल - ए - दिल पे हँसी   अब किसी बात पर नहीं आती   जानता हूँ सवाब - ए - ताअत - ओ - ज़ोहद   पर तबीअत इधर नहीं आती है कुछ ऐसी ही बात जो चुप हूँ   वर्ना क्या बात कर नहीं आती   क्यूँ न चीख़ूँ कि याद करते हैं   मेरी आवाज़ गर नहीं आती   दाग़ - ए - दिल गर नज़र नहीं आता   बू भी ऐ चारागर नहीं आती   हम वहाँ हैं जहाँ से हम को भी   कुछ हमारी ख़बर नहीं आती   मरते हैं आरज़ू में मरने की   मौत आती है पर नहीं आती   काबा किस मुँह से जाओगे ' ग़ालिब '  शर्म तुम को मगर नहीं आती   No hope is realised Mirza Ghalib No hope is realised, No solution looms in sight. Deaths’ moment is destined, Why sleep evades all night. Earlier, plight of heart made me laugh, Even a smile now, no

ख़्वाब बसेरा फ़ैज़ अहमद फ़ैज इस वक़्त तो यूँ लगता है अब कुछ भी नहीं है महताब न सूरज , न अँधेरा न सवेरा आँखों के दरीचों पे किसी हुस्न की चिलमन   और दिल की पनाहों में किसी दर्द का डेरा मुमकिन है कोई वहम था , मुमकिन है सुना हो   गलियों में किसी चाप का इक आख़िरी फेरा   शाख़ों में ख़यालों के घने पेड़ की शायद   अब आ के करेगा न कोई ख़्वाब बसेरा   इक बैर न इक मेहर न इक रब्त न रिश्ता   तेरा कोई अपना , न पराया कोई मेरा   माना कि ये सुनसान घड़ी सख़्त घड़ी है   लेकिन मिरे दिल ये तो फ़क़त इक ही घड़ी है हिम्मत करो जीने को तो इक उम्र पड़ी है Haven of Dreams Faiz Ahmad Faiz This moment it feels, nothing's left in life. Moon, nor sun, neither darkness, nor light. Spectre of beauty across eyes' screen, Pain's sanctum, sheltered in heart’s might, A suspicion it was? or did I truly hear? Footsteps in the street, caught in last flight. On the branch of th