Are we living in times where helping others has become foolish?

I would choose to believe not. Whatever the doomsday prophets may say, the world, even today, is not such a bad and scary place as it is made out to be. Undoubtedly, there are bad apples – as there have been since the time of Cain and Abel – but the number of god apples exceeds the bad apples by a huge number.

Every December, Raj, like many other people, starts to wonder what his New Year resolutions are going to be, and more importantly, how long is he going to be able to keep them. In 2010, he was able to keep them for a total of 22 days. So much for all the talk about a new habit taking 21 days to form. This year, however, Raj is determined to hold on to his New Year resolutions, and he is determined to do whatever it takes to do that. Luckily for him, it is really not that hard to hold on to New Year Resolutions – all it takes is a little planning and some determination.

Life, in general, may have been difficult for our forefathers, but they were lucky in at least one way. They had very few, if any, dates to remember. These days every day of the year has been marked as something or other, and that is in addition to the birthdays, anniversaries, and the special days that we have to remember. All hell breaks loose if we forget the birthday, or an anniversary of someone very close to us.

These days it is not very uncommon to hear phrases like Twitter will change the world, or that Facebook will guide the way businesses deal with their customers, or something on similar lines. While it is undeniable that Internet is changing the world as we know it, yet by itself Internet can’t do much.

Without the offline world, the online world simply cannot exist.

Humans have an innate, deep rooted, and a strong desire to be famous, or at least be well-known. Even the most private individuals want to be known, and appreciated, for what they are and what they do. The recent growth in the number of reality shows – however much we may claim to despise them – bears ample evidence to the fact that people like to be famous, even if the fame lasts only for fifteen minutes.

Come 1st April, and many minds begin to work extra hard to design devious schemes to fool their friends, colleagues, and even strangers. 1st April is that one day of the year where you can make fun of people, and get away with it without risking any grievous physical injury. At the same time, you need to be careful about believing what you hear or read on this day, because you never know when you might be taken for a ride.

Ask someone in India today, “What is the easiest way to make a lot of money?” and you might get any one of the following answers:

Become an Entrepreneur ,
Get an degree from an IIM and join the corporate world,
Start a web based company ,
Invest in the Market, etc., etc.

One answer you might not get, but which, it seems, is the right answer today is:

But what is the reason behind this dysfunctional mindset?

The answer, I believe, is fear. Everyone is afraid.

The politician is afraid that whatever he might do, he might not get a second term, so he wants to amass as much wealth as he can. He is afraid that the other party might malign his image, so he digs deep to find dirt on other politicians.

The Winner for Caption This-XXV is Otilius for his Caption : “Ebony and Ivory, go together in perfect harmony!”. Congratulations!

If you missed out this time, or you think you could have done better, don’t despair, you still have your chance.
Take a good look at the picture for this fortnight, and give it a caption that you think apt. If your caption is the best, you win, and your name will be announced (with a link to your site, if you have one) on the front page of The MAG.

It was towards the back of the building that they crept silently – three figures, almost invisible, camouflaged in their black dresses against the dark night. There was a drain pipe at the back that ran up all the way up to the fourth storey, and that is what the three were going to climb.
All of a sudden they were aware of a sound in the dark. A muffled sound, as if someone was struggling to speak. Their eyes, accustomed to the dark, looked around for the source of the noise. Soon, they located the source – it was a bundle, or two, lying in a corner.