It was another one of those mundane weekdays and, as usual, I was driving to work. On that particular day, however, my route happened to take me via a signal near the flyover, and, as luck would have it, a bright red light greeted me. I knew from before that this particular signal usually took 120 seconds because of its proximity to a college. So, sitting in my car, I decided to make better use of my time by observing the rush of the morning traffic, and the people who formed a part of that early morning scene.

A young girl gets pulled out of her car and beaten up, another gets raped in the middle of the road during peak hours, an Executive Engineer is beaten to death by a rude MLA, 27/67 MLA’s of Delhi have criminal records …and we continue to tolerate all this, saying we Indians are tolerant. So, who are we kidding? We are not tolerant, but impotent and selfish. We are the least tolerant, on the contrary, we, specialize in intolerance. We kill people in our rage – be it road rage, or the BMW rage, or the bar rage that killed Jessical Lal, or the murder of …

The ruckus raised by the recent IPL snub of the Pakistani players – be it accidental, or premeditated – is an example of how business focus can lead to an aggravation of sore relationships. The reason for the fiasco of not selecting the Pakistani players in any of the teams may be because none of the franchise wanted to bet money on horses, who they were not sure would even make it to the starting line. Post the Mumbai attacks, the relations between India and Pakistan have taken a turn for the worse – the effects of that can be seen on on the game too.

The print media was called the Fourth Estate by Thomas Carlyle in the 19th century.

Media, in any form, is a reflection of the society to which it belongs. Its role can be defined using the three E’s – to Enlighten, to Educate, and to Entertain. The role of media in spreading awareness is appreciable at times, but when things like TRP ratings come into the picture, the media resorts to an overdose of spreading awareness, creating havoc and panic as a result.

In every aspect of life we often observe brothers rising against each other. India and Pakistan once formed a part of a unified state, and there is a lot that has been written and spoken about on this subject. So, instead of talking about the conflict between India and Pakistan, let us, for a change, talk about what can be done to transform the two nations from Brothers with Arms into Brothers of Peace.

Global warming is seen as a major challenge in most world forums today. World leaders meetings – which are more of social gatherings these days than anything else – have found a ready subject to discuss in the form of global warming, and so have many of the makers of a new genre of computer graphic movies. Some of the movie makers have given a free rein to their imaginations and showcased how global warming would change the world.

Corporate Social Responsibility seems to be the term of the day for an emerging corporate India. As corporate citizens, people seem to be more than willing to come up with innovative models for the up-liftment of society, using their own resources. Starting from teaching the underprivileged children, to sharing resources with flood victims, to green planet fundamentals and to whatever else the organization feels it can give back to the society, everything is being done today.

It was a usual lousy morning on a distant army post in Manipur for me, when I opened my eyes to the feebly shaking mobile which had already encountered seven missed calls. The screen read – ‘Home Calling’. Before I could utter a word, my mother, from the other end, like a burst from a machine gun, fired uncountable questions about my safety, my move, my leave, my health, my posting and….the war with China.