Close to my 80th milestone, I am still learning. Often I do not know what I want to know. Most of the time, I want to know what is already known. I think of my school days. I think of the rainy days I looked forward to, because rainy days were undeclared holidays. I think of the mats on which we sat in front of a wooden desk. I think of Varma Ji, who treated us like his own children. I think of the half-hour laiyya-chana break. I think of the playgrounds with no paraphernalia

When we grow together, no one grows. We remain fixed to those beautiful days. The world moves on, but we keep returning to the same moments, the laughter that once echoed, the walks that never felt long, the silences that spoke more than words. Time tries to pull us forward, yet our hearts linger in the warmth of shared memories. Growing old together is not about moving ahead; it is about holding on to the time that made us who we are.

Khadi today stands at the intersection of heritage and innovation. As consumer expectations are evolving more than ever before, quality and cost assumes greater significance. In the present scenario, Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers an opportunity to enhance the competitiveness of khadi products without compromising their soul. AI can help in multiple dimensions. In design innovation, machine learning tools can analyze textile trends across cultures and time, generating p

When I wrote my first book, I did not know what I wanted to know. I had a rough, frail hand for writing. I still don’t have a manicured hand. I borrowed Mehendi to make it beautiful. My reading has increased. I have written a few books to understand life from a wider perspective. My library offers space, relationships, trust, understanding, and opportunity. It speaks to the whole person, not just the intellect. A library is a place where nothing is surplus. A place where need

Life moves like a sine curve, rising and falling. Its crests are not permanent, nor are its troughs endless. Each peak carries the seed of descent, and each fall prepares the ground for another rise. The movement is neither entirely joyous nor wholly sorrowful, but oscillating between the two. The wisdom lies in flowing with its rhythm, knowing that life’s symmetry is hidden in its waves.

As I reach a milestone, I realize all the walking I did belong to all those who carried the umbrella when it rained, the microscope when details mattered, and the telescope when the distant had to be seen. It is a journey made possible by the kindness, patience, and companionship of many.

I have been a research scientist. In research papers, every sentence demands a reference — as if an idea belongs to only one or a few. In doing so, we unknowingly ignore many who contributed in silence. Those we ignore never complain. Now, when I write for general readers, I prefer to use as few references as possible. It is not to diminish anyone’s contribution, nor to elevate another. It is simply to reduce complexity, to let thought flow freely, unburdened by citation, so

When I am enjoying my work, I have no problem if I have no time for myself. Joy fills the gaps. But when I am not enjoying my work and still have no time for myself, problem arises. Work without joy drains the self and creates silent wounds. Perhaps the solution lies in learning to reclaim small moments of self. For only when work and self nourish each other can time truly feel lived. I always found time for myself, even while fulfilling my responsibilities. I do not remember

To be unseen when one is away reveals how fragile one’s presence is. We often believe our work and sincerity will continue to speak for us. True pain arises not from being forgotten, but from realizing how easily one can be. Perhaps this is life’s way of teaching us the quiet art of working without the need to be remembered. I have come to understand one of my problems. I care for recognition. It is not fame that I seek, but acknowledgment that what I did mattered. When recog

The art of extricating oneself from a maze of webs is not a skill of escape, but of awareness. Are these webs threads of attachment, fear, and expectation? The maze is not outside but within, designed by one’s own thoughts and desires. One must learn which threads to untie and which to let be. In that understanding, the webs dissolve, and one finds not a way out, but a way through. The first time I experienced mental pain was when my father fell on a familiar street and was b

Once upon a time, I was a teacher. My job was very simple, to manage a class of forty students, who were, and still are, my friends. If a student was an A-grader, she or he was my friend; if a C-grader, I had no problem. Grades never defined my relationship with them. I always believed that each would do well, in their own way and time, irrespective of being A or C. Teaching, I later realised, was not about producing achievers, but about nurturing confidence, curiosity, and k

विज्ञान जीवन के उद्गम, उसके क्रियातंत्र और उसके विकास की खोज है। कला भावों को आकार देती है, क्षणों को अर्थ देती है, और अपूर्णताओं में सौंदर्य खोजती है। विज्ञान की सूक्ष्मता और कला की सहजता के बीच की संभावना को हम “सौंदर्य” कहते हैं। हर जैविक प्रक्रिया, अपने भीतर एक लय और विन्यास रखती है। जब हम इन्हें केवल कार्य के रूप में नहीं, बल्कि जीवन की कल्पनाशील अभिव्यक्तियों के रूप में देखते हैं, तो विज्ञान में भी एक कलात्मक आभा झिलमिलाने लगती है। मैंने यह कला विज्ञान का अभ्यास करते-कर

Many years ago, when I was a research fellow pursuing my PhD, I went through a phase of self-doubt. After two years of struggle, I began to believe I wasn’t fit for research. I decided to quit midway. Through a relative, I managed to get an interview with the Managing Director of a reputed pharmaceutical company. He spoke to me for nearly half an hour, listened carefully, and then said something unexpected: “You are not fit for this job. You are meant for far better things. G

"The man who likes chess sufficiently to look forward throughout his working day to the game that he will play in the evening is fortunate, but the man who gives up work in order to play chess all day has lost the virtue of moderation.” "One man, in the course of a long train journey, will fail entirely to observe any of his fellow travellers while another will have summed them all up, analysed their characters, made a shrewd guess at their circumstances, and perhaps even as

I was once an active researcher. My identity, perhaps, lived in the visible rhythm of creation. But with time, my inquiry changed its form. The questions have not stopped, they have simply gone inward. Instead of patterns in data, now I look for patterns in thought. The curiosity has remained, only the direction has changed. I still like to remain in touch with wonder. I hear less of outer noises. I hear more of inner echoes. It tells me that motion and stillness are intertwi

One of the few things that continues to guide me is the concept of mass and energy balance. It was the first course I taught when I began my career, and also the topic on which I was questioned in my very first interview. At that time, I understood it purely through the lens of a precise, logical framework. Only much later in life did I begin to see its deeper meaning. I now realize that the same principle governs our inner world. Nothing in life is ever lost; emotions, exper

In the past twenty years, the kind of things I have written are not what I once thought I would write. I used to write technical pieces connected with my profession. Then, I began to write about the things I already knew, calling it knowing the known. This practice became a habit. I no longer waited for a topic to arrive; whatever came to mind, I wrote. There was no symmetry, no sequence. Slowly, I overcame my hesitation about how to begin or how to end. Later, I started writ

Rises a full moon, a glint of light, as if to lend its glow to the night sky. Their friendship has an easy rhythm, like two lifelong companions walking through changing seasons; each unaware of the other’s glow. Sometimes what shines, and what reflects, is simply natural; a silent pact of trust and grace. The moon does not own the light it gives; the moonlight reflects without pride or pain. Sometimes we long for bonds that exist without expectation, without claim. Friendship

What is it that I am looking for? Perhaps not a thing to possess, but a balance to experience. I often feel that everything in life is connected; joy and sorrow, gain and loss, silence and sound. In contrasts one seeks the rhythm that binds life. If the laws of mass and energy apply to life, then nothing within us is ever lost; emotions only transform, from one form to another. Pain turns into understanding, confusion into clarity, unrest into awareness. Happiness is quiet

It was an unusual dream. I was taken to a cliff by one of my acquaintances. I was told that I must fall. The fall would make me feel good. It was not a punishment, but a lesson. The purpose was to rid me of my pride, to remind me that what I am is not mine alone. It is a sum of many unseen hands, silent prayers, and small acts of kindness. Standing on the edge, I was asked to let go, of self-importance, of the illusion of control. The fall was meant to bring gratitude. But