Opinions and Editorials

Almost a decade ago Kashmir-watchers were startled and disturbed by the newest peace balloon to be pushed afloat - this time by a furniture magnate based in America.

Watch out before you lunge for that biscuit in your daily meeting. Apparently it says a lot about you. In what is being termed the first ever Business Biscuit Study, a survey in the United Kingdom last month suggests that serving the correct biscuit can improve the outcome of a meeting.

Here's the billion rupee question to ask before you settle in front of your TV sets later today to watch the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics: will India defend its record of sending the largest Olympic contingent only to fetch the least number of medals? The answer - unless, of course, you're the sort who believes everything in this world to be maya - is a pretty resounding y

In my second year as the bearer of a British passport, I have come to the perplexing realisation that many of my fellow citizens are departing. Just the other day, a friend of my wife's announced her impending move to New York. My own inner circle of buddies has been decimated by defections to Dubai. The first friend I made at work when I arrived here back in 2001 now calls Melbourne home.

My innocuous decision to write an autobiography triggered panic in my family. My wife and children had a lot of reservations about it. She had not yet dropped the bomb-shell by uttering her favourite phrase: "No more discussions, period.

There are some things in life that are great equalisers and show how despite colour, caste and creed, humans are pretty much the same the world over. Having a television camera shoved in your face is one such equaliser. It makes people say stupid things.

On India's terror map, Hansabehn Makwana will probably not even be a footnote. As she battles for survival in the burns ward of Ahmedabad's civil hospital, the 50-year-old woman's determined face suggests that she hasn't given up on life.

Harkishan Singh Surjeet was different things to different people. But I will always remember him as a Gandalf-like figure from scattered childhood memories, a gruff but amiable grandpa-type who visited us a few times.

For over a month, the Jammu region has been almost continuously on the boil. Initially led by the BJP, the protest against the state government's intention to revoke the transfer of 800 kanals of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board has gradually intensified.

'Thank God the Prime Minister didn't deliver his speech in Parliament,' remarked a Congressman after the trust vote. 'His mild-mannered delivery would have destroyed the punch of the written text.' Nothing could be more true. It was an aggressive text targeting L.K. Advani and Prakash Karat.

The great tragedy of Indian politics in recent years has been the state of hostile non-communication between the two national parties.

• Shekhar Gupta's criticism of the UPA, particularly that of the home minister, Shivraj Patil, is very apt 'Internal insecurity'. He has voiced the frustration and disgust felt by millions of Indians at the UPA's record on internal security.

Few are aware that the path snaking into the heart of Munnar's Eravikulam National Park is known as the "Gouldsbury Track" - in honour of the late British tea planter and conservationist who perhaps did more to preserve wildlife in these hills than anyone else. John Gouldsbury managed a tea estate near Munnar where my father worked.

So the Nasa has found evidence of water on Mars. I can't tell you how relieved I am. Because where there's water, there's oxygen, and where there's oxygen, there's life. Which means, finally, that my fondest dream may actually come true. I really could move to another planet.

The decision by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) last week has unequivocally and irreversibly opened the gates for pension reforms.

One more series, this time a series of series, of bomb blasts and the talk of a federal intelligence agency is revived. Whether it is Malegaon, Maharashtra 2006; Hyderabad 2007; or Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Surat 2008, after each atrocity, there is much breast-beating about the failure of the intelligence-gathering agencies.

Those sections of the commentariat who urged the government to get into a confrontation with its allies over the nuclear deal had predicted that the popularity of the deal would lift the government's own standing.

Here is a question for monetary-policy wonks and for the laity interested in logic puzzles. Earlier this week, when the RBI announced tough policy measures for controlling inflation, the Sensex took a tumble of over 500 points. There were complaints that this meant a loss of wealth for individuals, corporations and, hence, the nation.

Have you noticed how acceptable and widely-used English has become? Even when people are speaking Hindi, English words keep popping up. I'm sure this is equally true of conversations in Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Assamese or Kashmiri. In contrast, hindi purists seem to have faded away.

Every four years, I get reminded by the Olympic Games that I once had a brief and rather tumultuous relationship with my body. Not that I ever considered the body to be a temple. But for four-odd years in the early 80s, I took pride and joy in competitive swimming.