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There is an interesting piece of history, not about kings and empires, but about land and life itself. Much before human life started on planet Earth, all the land on the globe was a single, giant landmass called Pangaea. In the age of dinosaurs, about 180 million years ago..

The utility of sleep is undeniable and of late, there have been excellent books emphasizing it. Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, has published in his 2017 book…

The sense of “I” is the greatest deception that mankind is condemned to. Talk to anyone and you hear the story of obsession with money, power, name, fame, attachments, achievements, love, and dependency. We live a life driven by our likes and dislikes. Every moment we are moving “towards what we like and love” and “away from what we dislike and fear…

I have immensely enjoyed reading Full Catastrophe Living by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn (b. 1944), a very readable and practical book on mindfulness, published in 1990. I have read the 25th anniversary issue, published in 2013. The more than 600-page book presents the details of an 8-week course known as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction…

The Australian writer and broadcaster, Clive James (1939–2019), curtly defined modern times when he said, “It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.” While we are all amused living in an internet-connected world..

On October 15, 2022, the nation observed the 91st birth anniversary of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (1931-2015). I was invited by BharatTech Foundation, primarily a group of overseas engineers of Indian origin, but also with a good base within the country, to give the keynote address…

Confusing the temporary with the permanent, happiness with pleasure, continuing to search for vague things rather than appreciating what has already been given, and trying to change conditions instead of changing oneself, almost always lead to suffering…

Worldview and self-view are the two poles between which the mind oscillates. What these poles mean to an individual is of vital importance. The difficulty is that these poles evolve throughout life – they initially develop and then grow, depending on the work…

Every decade has its own flavour. When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, poverty and mismanagement were accepted as the norm. I spent many hours standing in queue at ration shops, which would not open regularly, and their operators blatantly sold sugar and wheat in the black market…

Of late, I spend much of my time reading books. Excellent books are available on the Internet, which can be read for free. One can even download them, highlight the portions one likes and even add notes…