How Can We Matter

Who knew I'd be sharing this unexpected health hurdle with a Bollywood celebrity? Looks like even Bollywood stars face similar challenges sometimes. Here's to hoping we both get through this soon! Photo Credit: Instagram What is the rare sensorineural deafness that singer Alka Yagnik has been diagnosed with? Alka Yagnik is a prominent Indian playback singer of 90s era Bollywood. She has received several accolades, including two National Film Awards , two Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards and a record seven Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer from a record of thirty-six nominations. My Encounter About 4.5 months back I too had encountered a similar sudden hearing loss. My experience along with the line of treatment is recounted here:  Hearing Only What You Want to Hear! After completing the steroid treatment of two weeks, I got an MRI scan of my brain on 21-02-2024 with contrast dye used. On the whole the scanning took about an hour. The contrast dye w...

Ishaara Restaurant Yesterday, we went to a unique restaurant by name Ishaara in Phoenix Marketcity, Bangalore. In order to understand what is exclusive about the restaurant you need to know the meaning of its name. Ishaara, a name steeped in Hindi heritage, means "signaling", "signs", and "symbols". Ishaara can also mean "hint", "clue", or "gesture" in Sanskrit. The Ishaara Menu From the outside, Ishaara appeared to be a fine-dining restaurant with elegant and alluring decor. When we sat down, we were presented with menu sheets of 11" x 17" size. At first glance it was a typical à la carte menu with separate prices for each item; an extensive list comprising dishes from across several regions of India. Ishaara Menu Initially I was concentrating on the different categories of food, several items under each category, their descriptions, and prices - in order to get a general idea about the value and quality of the off...

We have all seen countless sunrises and moonrises in our life and their beauty continues to enthrall us. These celestial spectacles have captivated poets for ages, their verses overflowing with the allure of the unknown and the whispers of the divine. One such acclaimed poet was Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi, popularly known as just Rumi. He was a poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic, born on September 30, 1207. Almost 1200 years ago, Rumi observed moonrise and composed the fascinating poem, "At the Twilight", that transcends the physical realm, offering a glimpse of a mystical union. Pardon me for rephrasing Rumi's poem by interchanging the words 'moon' for 'earth', and vice versa, in the following lines:  "At the twilight, an earth appeared in the sky; Then it landed on moon to look at me. Like a hawk stealing a bird at the time of prey; That earth stole me and rushed back into the sky. I looked at myself, I did not see me anymore...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has many uses and potential misuses. This post presents some examples of how AI can be used, misused, and abused and its potential consequences. Seeing the World Through Our Lens It all started when my imagination was triggered by a cloud formation of an image in the azure sky that looked like a giant face peeking out from behind a building. Immediately I captured that image with my mobile phone camera on 31 May 2024 at 18:21hrs. It goes without saying that what we observe in the sky depends on the way the image is visualized, conceived, and interpreted by us. This in turn is shaped by our background and life experiences.  That is, our ability to see, hear, and become aware of the image, through the limits of human senses, creates different perceptions on different people. AI: A Creative Tool Inspired by what I visualized in the photo, I used an AI tool (Google Gemini) to generate ideas for a poem. Of course, the poem is not a verbatim reproduction of w...

Image Courtesy: Web A spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, India said that it took special note of the New York judge's decision on Monday to set an April 15 trial date for Donald Trump's criminal hush-money case . It observed with concern that the judge's decision will up the odds the former president will face at least one verdict that could complicate his bid to retake the White House on November 5.   The MEA spokesman emphasized: "In the case of Donald Trump, India wants to encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes which should not be objected by anyone." -------------------------------------------------------------------- This is what I wish is the Latest News, Breaking News, Top News Headlines ... today from India and around the world.  This is the pleasant dream I woke up from this morning!  Our dreams are about the yearnings that are held deep inside us. Blatant Interference During the last fortnight or so  I was reading about ...

In a landmark unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court on 15 Feb 2024 struck down as “ unconstitutional and manifestly arbitrary ” the electoral bonds scheme, which provides blanket anonymity to political donors. The top court said the scheme violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information . This judgment was delivered just ahead of the April-May 2024 Lok Sabha polls.  Electoral Bonds Scheme The election funding system called the Electoral Bonds Scheme , was introduced by the Government in 2017 to finance political parties. It allowed individuals and companies to make unlimited and anonymous donations to political parties through certificates bought from the State Bank of India (SBI). Any Indian citizen or organization registered in India can buy these bonds after meeting the KYC norms laid down by the Reserve Bank of India.  Each provision in the 2018 Electoral Bonds Scheme is designed: to ensure legitimacy in political f...

Are lawyers like mercenaries who will fight for any cause provided they get their fees? Image courtesy: Amazon In the book " India's Legal System: Can It Be Saved? ", published by Penguin on 15 March 2017, the author Fali S. Nariman, the renowned constitutional expert and senior Supreme Court lawyer who died recently on 21 February 2024 at the age of 95 years, states: "India has the second-largest legal profession in the world, but the systemic delays and chronic impediments of its judicial system inspire little confidence in the common person".   Debatable Question However, what prompted me to ask this rather controversial question about our uninspiring judicial system is something different. We regularly see a set of high-profile lawyers of the Supreme Court who always represent clients of the opposition political parties or opposition-ruled states or even criminals in their legal fights against the Union government , and who act like mercenaries (hired profes...