A few months after I started blogging, a very close friend of mine noted that even though my blog was named "It's a Miracle!" after the Hindu Milk Miracle, I had never written a word about it. The fact is that I really had not put much thought into naming my blog: in fact, I … Continue reading The Hindu Milk Miracle
This time…
All my adult life – which admittedly has not been very long if maturity is the defining characteristic of adulthood – I have been told that in order to be successful, I need to manage time effectively. At face value, this advice seems sagacious since there is only finite time on this planet. But when … Continue reading This time…
How to name a Bengali baby boy
“কানা ছেলের নাম পদ্মলোচন” ---- “A blind boy is named the Lotus-eyed One” – Bengali proverb Having gone through the arduous process of naming my newborn son – and yes, there is definitely a rigorous vetting process – I now feel competent enough to give unsolicited advice on how to name a Bengali baby boy. The … Continue reading How to name a Bengali baby boy
When did my son become a “person”?
My son has been alive all of two weeks now. Alive. It is the wrong word. Let me try again. My son was born two weeks ago. In a sense he has been alive much longer, and I, as his father, have also been thinking about his existence for many months now. How long has … Continue reading When did my son become a “person”?
For my newborn son. With love, from baba
Welcome! I have been waiting for an eternity to meet you, son! I see you wiggle in front of me. I gaze into your eyes and I want to know you. I hope you will learn something about me too. I have to remind myself not to think ahead, though it is very hard to … Continue reading For my newborn son. With love, from baba
Here and now: on population and the human condition
In 1921, Raymond Pearl, Professor of Biometry and Vital Statistics at Johns Hopkins made a starting prediction that the upper-limit of population which could be sustained by the United States would be reached in 2060 and that it would be around 200 million souls. Dr. Pearl employed logically-sound analyses extrapolating from the Malthusian doctrine prevalent … Continue reading Here and now: on population and the human condition
Shelf-space
I have a problem that needs fixing. I am a bibliophile with limited space on my shelves. I have put off this problem for a long time wishing that it would go away by itself, but now I urgently need to make space for new pages which will inevitably encroach upon my small apartment. One … Continue reading Shelf-space
The long continuum
A mountainous range stood before the sympathetic tedium Revolver so sound of mind not free to remember It operates with happy, dull abandon, Figment of the imagination? Never... The hurting went on A chain screams noisily, but no one ever listens... A bread or a radiant dragon is the key As Cleopatra's heart melted at … Continue reading The long continuum
115 words
Miles of sand melt into a featureless horizon. Is each grain of sand different? A vital piece of an architectural puzzle? I am in a rush to go nowhere in particular. We are a tiny fragment of an incomprehensibly large universe and a gigantic sum of imperceptibly small atoms. Both the massive and the minuscule … Continue reading 115 words
For Raju
Yesterday, when I read the news, I thought of Raju. Raju lived with him parents in the shanty just beyond the high walls surrounding the house where I grew up. His father leased a rickshaw; his mother was a maidservant. Raju had five siblings, and I could have only told them apart by height when … Continue reading For Raju
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