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Heard so much since last 30 days about demonetization. Right from the emotional videos to the acerbic interviews, from the blatant speeches to the new economic revelations. Unfortunately, the situation is such that everybody stands in polar positions. As the typical extremely judgemental Indians, as we are, either the people have lauded or they have criticized but not many seem to have a clearer rational view on what lies ahead. Well, to shed some light on the facts; let’s understand a few pointers. The size of India’s economy or the GDP is close to 2.2 trillion dollars or 150 lakh crore rupees . The parallel economy that is the black money economy is almost 20-30% of the country’s GDP ( as per a report by Ambit Capital research ). In fact, as per Ambit, the cost of black economy has recently gone very high & thus the black economy has shrunk from the levels of once 50-70% in 2014 (a report in The Hindu available at http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/black-economy...

Clean Slate I was happy to meet them again. Was excited to some extent, honestly, the company of good friends always makes me feel better. I expected them also to be there but I had decided to not hold any grudge against anybody and just take it easy. This was my natural reflex system at its best which ensures that people don’t affect me negatively ever. So, I entered their place with my usual exuberance, all prepared to celebrate the birthday party. The hosts as expected gave a warm welcome. As I met the hosts, my eyes fell upon them. There was a visible palpation at both of the sides. Still, a hesitant hello softened with a layer of fake smile followed. Voila, It was not too bad for a start. Soon, the glasses were full with the diluted Bourbon whisky, glasses clinking with a vociferous cheers. Another quick round followed amid casual chit chats. They were around all this while and it seemed that the cautious and hesitant approach has automatically become a new protocol fo...

In my opinion, Expression is the most important aspect of human beings. It becomes all the more important because the world we have created for ourselves opposes the basic tenet of free-expression. Different cultures, different societies, different people, different beliefs and then to top them all is the urgency to prove themselves superior to the fellow human beings. In such brutally competitive ecosystem, the only human side which finds its way to expression is the hate, jealousy and anger. While the soul tries to express itself, it is mugged down by the number of masks the body starts wearing to adapt to the faulty system of human societies. The more the distance grows between the soul and its outward expression, the more the false identity starts revealing itself which is nothing but just a whiff of smoke, extremely vulnerable to the smallest change and scared of the world. The soul though never stops trying and in the process the energies within change the shapes and colors...

The aroma of lavender filled her nostrils the moment she entered the apartment. This was probably the second time after her first visit to Shankar’s place many years back, when she noticed Shankar to be so concerned about the outer ambience; otherwise he only took care of his inner self. No specific attention was ever given to the exterior part; neither to his body nor to his place of dwelling. Sanyukta smiled mildly, trying to hide her thoughts from Shankar for she wanted it to be as natural as possible. The women generally have an extra sense to penetrate into the man’s heart and see what stays there. Sanyukta, one such learned beauty had seen the proposal coming. They already had a memorable evening. Subsequent to that romantic outing, the personal quality time spent after many weeks, the hands clasped into each other’s in a delightful evening stroll among the young couples on the serene dusky evening of India gate, the eyes dug into each other as if were hypnotized while sitt...

Nature: Thy name is Perfect What would be an example of “Perfection”? “Tajmahal”….may be, some beautiful movie like Mughle-Azam…. Probably, An excellent book by Premchand….Nah. These all could be near to perfection, but calling them “perfect” would be too much to ask for. What else then; “Nature”…. Oh yes, the “Nature” is bountiful, boundless, immeasurable yet “Flawless”. Don’t you agree?? The imperfect shapes of clouds bring the perfect view; the sunrays emerging out from the sporadic raindrops help the formation of the perfect Rainbow. Those witty waves hitting each other make those perfect thundering sounds in that relentless wild river. The swing of the tree branches during a storm, the chase by a cheetah at that electrifying speed or that sharp astonishing turn by the impala at the last moment saving him from the jaws of death, are all the vivid images of Perfection. Are they not…? I read an article on “Circumcision for the newly born male children”. The writer...

“Yours is a strange and self-obsessed generation who just can’t get over your personal ego to believe in something. Above all, you take pride in hurting the sentiments of your elders, showing your angst and disbelief against the conventional wisdom”, that is my mother at her rhetoric best. Unfortunately, I could not understand her as she could never understand me. There are millions of parents having the same complaints from their kids. I can’t comment on all of them as I would be too naive and unaware of their feelings. But in my case, I can say that the chasm is not built based on our contrasting beliefs but on the contrary this is a gap between “blind beliefs” and “Questions”. Those who raise the questions and speak their minds can’t be politically correct always. I always say that Human brain confuses; now I also think that the brain is wired in such a way that it understands only polar positions. Anything in between, it finds it difficult to understand. We have given the...

Dare to be your true self Standing on the beautiful landscapes of the Mount Entoto in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, I gazed at the sky and yelled at him; “why the results are not always as per the expectations”…..comes back the voice; “Calm down my son, because it just doesn’t matter”. I am surprised, where the voice came from…..is it from the sky? Is it the God himself? Oh, It’s from my inside….amazing, someone always within me, yet so indiscoverable… I asked him, who are you?? The voice came back, I am your friend, the one you never had faith on; I am the origin of everything, you never acknowledged; I am the creator, you never believed on…… “Why do you talk to me then?” I asked. “For the same reason, I talked with Arjuna during the epic of Mahabharata; he had wisdom to understand but yet he was confused; he was capable yet he lacked self-belief; he knew he was wrong yet he questioned to gain the better understanding. You question my presence too; I had no...