The Altruist

This is a response to what is in my opinion a very cowardly assessment of India's options when it comes to pursuing a possible solution to the pressing problem of Islamic Fundamentalism and Communist Subterfuge that plagues our borders with China and Pakistan. Foreign Policy is seldom the vestige of a single strain of intellectual thought, or the ideations of a convenient strand of ideology thrust upon the english speaking intellectuals of our country. It is rather the sum effort of national thinking , united by a national consciousness , much like what HuffingtonPost India is primarily tasked with creating, in a journalistic sense. A country like India exists for a reason. We take pride in our pluralistic foundations and deeply value every soul that has ever birthed into this sacred land of ours.True then, that militarily we MAY not the strongest army in the world, but that does not take away from the fact that we are among the bravest. True then, that the multiple headwoun...

Entrepreneurial branding sometimes deludes the minds of youngsters into thinking that becoming an Entrepreneur is some sort of macho endeavour , aimed solely at making money or displaying bravado, in the face of a conservative majoritarian opinion.In essence there is a need in the written narrative about Entrepreneurship to eulogize about the art and the science that is Entrepreneurship. The Art of Entrepreneurship is essentially about the creative aspects of being an Entrepreneur, that comes naturally to them, as a matter of instinct. These traits can be honed by hard work and experience to create a distinctive style, made visible to the external world by a signature method of dealing with a certain kind of problem. Steve Jobs was such a creative and brilliant Entrepreneur who transformed the computer industry through the Macintosh. When one of his critics in an open forum asked him what he exactly contributed to the Computer Industry and why he chose a certain technology...

Bangalore , the erstwhile garden city of India , and the current IT capital is also home to a large number of stray dogs. Due to government legislation in place , it is not possible to find a amenable solution to the problem of strays in this country, partly because of society's apathy towards the homeless animals, and partly because of the unfortunate inability of animal welfare institutions to effectively deal with the raging crisis. The unfortunate truth is that while the government and NGO websites are rife with helpline numbers to care of stray animals, it is a rare miracle when any person picks up the call at the other end, and even if they do, one has to wait on them, and even travel to the veterinary hospital with the affected dogs, until they deem it fit to provide us a suitable response. This clearly shows the civic bodies responsible for managing these welfare institutions have not sensitized the staff of these institutions on how to manage incidents involving stray ...

Just recently, on a Wednesday evening, as i was sipping tea at my favourite tea stall after a running workout at the nearby Jayamahal Park, a Goods-Auto driver asked me, when was the Festival Day. I looked at him quizzically and almost instantaneously realized he was asking me if Bakrid was tomorrow. Well, my favourite tea stall is in a predominantly Muslim area, and i was also sporting a beard, as i usually do these days. I guess that was reason enough for him to think that i was a Muslim. Besides there was also this large goat tied to the No-Parking Post adjoining the tea stall. "Its on Friday" i replied back in Kannada, recalling an earlier news-byte i heard earlier on the telly about Friday the 25th of September being declared a holiday by the State government. I didnt care to admit im not a Muslim.He grinned and we both took our tea cups and got lost in our own worlds. Actually this is quite a common occurrence in my life. People who come to the park for an even...

Walk along the roads of Bangalore, take a leisurely stroll if you must, and chances are you will come across a pile of garbage staring at you, with street dogs adding to the nuisance. The cities once famous tag of Garden City is now restricted to the downtown areas and unnervingly near the residences of most politicians and Councillors. While the city municipal corporation does try its best to keep the city litter clean, there is clearly no Singaporean vision that Bangalore has yet to have taken hold off, despite all the efforts in that direction by NGO's, citizens groups and successive state and local governments.  This year , municipal apathy has probably never been more clearly visible, when after the  2015 municipal elections for the BBMP wards, our politicians hooked of to resorts in Kerala and other parts of Karnataka, in order to escape poaching by other parties, while our city dwellers helplessly looked on as the dilapidated state of our public roads was once a...

Everyday, hundreds of thousands of our city dwellers can be seen lining up at the teeming roadside bars of Bangalore, for a drink to drown their sorrows. In many cases, they are blowing up the days income, and that is the best case scenario, for sometimes they borrow money from the household to pay for their drinks. Households of the urban poor are full of tales of how this addiction conundrum is wreaking havoc in their family's life, affecting each member of the family in a drastic way. This is not just an issue affecting poor families alone. Even households that have modest incomes face the problem of their members consuming copious amounts of alcohol, having a large impact on the family environment, and their upbringing and influence on society. States like Kerala have seen the impact of an outright ban on prohibition, causing a bloodthirst amongst many of its people for the strong drink. The situation has already reached pandemic proportions in rural areas in I...