Today nothing serious okay, just a fictitious tale!Ruby and Jai met in New York.Ruby’s country couldn’t care less what he said; Jai’s country counted each minute he spent with the other man. Finally, Jai
Wednesday, 26th November, 2025
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Bob’s Banter
There’s something about the word Swadeshi that makes the chest swell and the voice quiver with patriotism. We picture Gandhi at his spinning wheel, khadi clothes fluttering, and villagers proudly making salt.
I sat this morning and saw headline after headline of India and Indians being targeted abroad.In America, Trump’s tariffs, visa upheavals and deportations hit businessmen and students. In England, placards sc-
Many years ago, my secretary, who used to travel by the good old suburban trains of Mumbai, told me stories of the strange therapy sessions that happened on the rails. Total strangers, wedged together on a wood
Let’s start with an imaginary neighbour of mine. One week she was treating patients with tiny sugar globules wrapped in tissue paper, the next she was prescribing antibiotics strong enough to bring down an el-
“Lovely weather we’re having, isn’t it?”There you go — I’ve just started a conversation that would have gone down well two decades ago. Today, if you try that line, the fellow beside you will either
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It was just a month ago, I stood at the memorial of the Twin Towers in New York. People streamed in quietly, many carrying flowers, placing them tenderly over the engraved names of loved ones who had perished i
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I opened the paper this morning and there it was—big, bold headlines telling me that Salman Khan had stretched his muscular arms all the way to Punjab. Not to beat up another villain, but to rescue flood vict
Today’s headline in a major newspaper screamed, ‘Many Indians are treating AI as a doctor. And turning critically ill’. I chuckled—and decided to bring three people out of my imagination, one, my neighb
Last week I wrote about people who played second fiddle and changed the world, but alongside that had written another about many who pretend to play second fiddle and find it convenient to remain doing so, beca-
I am inside the Chicago aquarium; one step inside and I am five years old again—nose to glass, palms flattened, dignity floating away like a bubble. A ballerina-jelly swirls past; a moody grouper regards me l
It’s always easier to live in a lie, isn’t it? Like the man who paints cracks in his walls the colour of ivory and tells his wife, “Look darling, the house looks brand new!” Until the monsoon comes, the-
So, the GST Council has decided to simplify our lives. Yes, you heard right—simplify! Out go the old four tax slabs, in come two: 5% and 18%. And for those who like their pleasures with a little indulgence—
Ah, a billion or more of us have our cheeks swollen again!Not from a cricket ball hurled by a Pakistani fast bowler, but from the slap of Uncle Sam’s indifference. We lie bruised because the American administ-
I’ve always been fond of John. Short fellow, yes, but he somehow looked taller than most—on stage, in a crowd, even over a steaming cup of cutting chai. People said he wasn’t good-looking, but I’d seen
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The highly acclaimed interviewer came storming out of the interview room, his face red, not from the summer heat, but from sheer frustration. “Everybody wants the job,” he spluttered, “but nobody wants to
“Declare what you are carrying!” the stern-looking customs officer at the US airport growled at me the other day, and I wondered, what if I wasn’t just me, the lone traveler, but India herself walking thr-
During the Second World War, stories were told of black marketeers who hoarded cigarettes, butter, and sugar, and sold them at obscene prices. The world despised them. They were looked at as parasites, gnawing
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Last night, in the Poconos where we are holidaying, the fire burned bright. Sparks flew upward like tiny stars, wood crackled, and flames licked the night with warmth and light. We sat around it, roasting marsh
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Dear People of India, clap, shout and rejoice! We are delighted to soon offer you a brand-new Vice President.Yes, carefully selected, polished, and packaged, this is the model you’ve been waiting for: one who
