Howard Buffet - 60 Minutes.

Emma Barnett Meets His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Ashtjaam - The Best Way To Drive Out The Chinese

Since Narendra Modi has miserably failed in driving the Chinese out from our borders, I have a novel suggestion. On how to drive the Chinese out without firing a single bullet. Just place thousands of loudspeakers across the Line of Actual Control and get Biharis for free to do Ashtjaam! Now what's an Ashtjaam? An ashtjaam is like repeating Sita Ram non stop night and day for eight full days over loudspeakers. Of course to do this the money is collected from villagers and anyone passing through the village by simply erecting a bamboo barrier. India's noise pollution levels must be the highest in the world. Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh recorded the second highest noise pollution level in the world with 116 decibels! Even in industrial cities the maximum permissible limit is 75 decibels. For residential areas it is 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels during the night. And although the Central Pollution Control Board has introduced fines ranging from Rs 1000 to one lakh rupees, these are rarely enforced. In Hindu Rashtra the only action ever taken is on mosques using loudspeakers. From Ganpati festival in Mumbai to Durga puja in the north Hindus can have as many loudspeakers as they want. And no action will ever be taken. Just like the burqa !

Mulayam Singh Yadav - An Encounter !!

I have had several encounters with the Samajwadi Party leader Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav but the first one stands out. I must be only a cub reporter in Mumbai when the Samajwadi Party decided to enter electoral politics in Bombay, then deeply polarised due to the communal riots following the demolition of the Babri Mosque. In college I usually preferred the front desk but covering political pressers I would normally sit on the last seat, last row. The advantage of being a newspaper reporter was the anonymity. Nobody bothered about who you were. But covering the Samajwadi Party presser at the Taj Mahal Hotel I took my usual last seat, dreaming about the pastries that would follow the presser. When suddenly there was a hustle and security and entered Netaji or Mulayam Singh Yadav. But he did not go to the podium instead walked past all the benches to the last seat. He was standing right before me before he shook my hands and said, "I am Mulayam Singh Yadav. "

Shri H. B. Chhetri - My Nepali Teacher !

Really saddened to hear the passing away of Shri H. B. Chhetri, our famous Nepali teacher from St. Joseph's School, North Point, Darjeeling. He was definitely a favourite amongst all students. The kindest heart. I still cannot speak in Nepali so you must be wondering why I am writing about my Nepali teacher. Nepali was a third language in school, the first being English. Third for those who preferred Nepali to French or some other foreign language. Many of us hindiwallahs opted for the easy Nepali because of its Devanagri script which is like Hindi. But what we were not prepared for is Mr Chhetri's style of teaching. He would enter the classroom, always smartly dressed in a coat and trousers with his Nepali topi in the right tilt. As the door would shut we would be all ears. And then he would begin his ghost stories. We would be mesmerised and simply did not want his class to end. And the expressions he would make... it was better than anything on television these days. And another thing in the Nepali tests I always came first. It was like a handwriting test and Hindi and Nepali being the same script I scored. But till date I feel I did not deserve the certificates. Since I still cannot speak Nepali. Even after school and college I thought of him and why he chose to tell us stories instead of the books. And I think he left a most important message for all, children should be treated and loved as children. And now that he is among the spirits wonder how many more ghost stories he must be collecting for us...