chaotic order

Jottings - Slice of life - 295 (Musings on the eve of the election results in India) "The true interest of an absolute monarch generally coincides with that of his people". So wrote Edward Gibbon in his monumental "Decline and fall of the Roman empire", nearly two centuries ago. As the day of reckoning draws nearer, it seems evident the people of India will vote Narendra Modi back to power for the next five years. The Monarch has held his sway over a billion people, and h is vision reflects the aspiration of an entire nation. Again and Again, in these columns, I have drawn attention to the fact that BJP on its own strength cannot win the election, but with Narendra Modi, at its helm, they will not lose. For a country starved of authentic leadership for decades, the people of India look upon Modi as a charismatic, confident, brave and articulate voice amidst the confusion and cacophony of rival political parties. The party Modi represents may follow a different a

Jottings - Slice of life - 292 ( Bhanu and I - thirty years of memories, and accumulating more) It is fascinating how an old picture, drawn from the forgotten fullness of the past, can seek out from the hidden corners of the brain enough buried memories to create a kaleidoscopic tapestry of visual images. The images are so vivid, surreal and pulsating, that for some brief moments in time the  relived past becomes the intense and absorbing present. The mystery of this visual parade of memories lies not in the mechanical sorting of countless small memories scattered in the vastness of one's psyche, but the delectable selection and connections it draws from those memory footprints in the loom of time. The spectacle is mysterious as it is forceful. The faded picture in front of our eyes, in few chronological minutes, reveals to the minds eye a show specially put together, orchestrated and delivered with an eclectic mix of emotions: there is sadness and joy, failure and hope, betrayals