The Writer’s Flight

Seeing life as a long train journey- Through the windows drinking in the passing highway scene of cars In the night sky we come across the glittering stars; On the hillside the cattle is grazing, from a power plant where some smoke is raising; and row upon row of maize and wheat, of mountains and valleys where sunshine is sweet; and city skylines and village huts, But we are lost in our ifs and buts! We are unmindful of these beautiful sights, we ignore the passing scenes full of gaiety and delight; For uppermost in our minds is the destination, unfortunately its now every man's infatuation. Its now each human being who says, that win I win the car race; or when i have my own house, when i have a good spouse; when i retire, i shall live happily ever after, when i get admission there would only be laughter and laughter And when the wonderful dreams come true, the pieces of life like a jigsaw puzzle will together screw. But sooner or later we realise that there's no station,...

If there is one name in India Chess is synonymous with, it is unequivocally that of Viswanathan Anand. Today India may have 65 Grandmasters but this was not the case 33 years back, when “Vishy” (as he is fondly called) became country's first Grandmaster in December 1987 and won the World Chess Championship in 2000.  He talks about why chess is one of the best mind games ever -  in an exclusive with Namrata Kohli It is believed that playing chess results in better brain function, improved memory and cognitive abilities. Does playing chess make one smarter? I think what it trains you to do is it improves your pattern recognition - so chess is about seeing a lot of patterns and connecting the dots and seeing the bigger picture, so to speak. And then it’s been proven in many studies, that students who play couple of hours of chess a week, their academics get better. They retain information much better.  Second is the ability to concentrate on a problem, push aside the distrac...

Deepa Narayan’s thought-provoking book titled ‘Chup’ lifts the lid on deep seated prejudices prevalent in the Indian sub-continent and she is talking about the upper echelons and the educated middle class By Namrata Kohli A girl should be seen, not heard. Be quiet- Chup, this is often used to silence girls, right from childhood, well into adulthood and deep into old age. Deepa Narayan’s book comes to this startling conclusion that women are systematically trained to delete themselves, their power and make themselves invisible. The worst is how women are delusional about who they are and live their lives in what she calls a “massive pretence”. It started with the 2012 Nirbhaya case, when Narayan embarked on a journey to find the root cause of this abuse and disrespect for the fairer sex. She spoke to some 600 women and men, and after 1800 hours of interviews, her key finding was that while we have changed on the outside, inside we are still the same. Our biases, notions of what ...

India's villages have been struggling with lack of proper schools and infrastructure, high school drop out rate and lack of good teaching faculty. With digital learning platforms reaching out to the underserved rural markets during the lockdown period, there is hope of solving one of country's biggest problems- that of illiteracy  By Namrata Kohli  For the first time, India has more rural net users than urban. The latest report by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IA-MAI) and Nielsen shows rural India has 227 million active internet users, ten percent more than urban India’s 205 million. The numbers have been boosted by the cheapest internet connections in the world. In addition, there are 71 million kids, aged 5-11 years who go online using devices of family members. This is pathbreaking as school children are warming up to E-learning models like nobody else. A combination of factors such as greater penetration of smart phones, better telecom infrastructure and co...

Smitten by the writer’s bug? Then tune into this exclusive chat with author Reham Khan who talks about her own journey as an author, the different formats available for publishing and how difficult it is to write an autobiography. Her book, an eye-opener to the secrets of Pakistani society, spills the beans on her hi-profile marriage and divorce to cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.. All this and more, in conversation with Namrata Kohli How difficult is it to write an autobiography? You wrote an autobiographical account and lifted the lid on your marriage to Imran Khan. While crisis always makes a good story look great, as a chronicler of your own life how hard was it to press the rewind button or was it catharsis. It was extremely difficult and painful experience. It was tough for me to sit down and edit it and part of the reason why it took so long for the book to come out was, because I would write something and I didn’t want to read it back again. But luckily, I am blessed w...

When the Covid Crisis ends, should schools return to status quo. This is the question dodging the minds of education fraternity in India and elsewhere By Namrata Kohli Is online schooling the new normal. Are virtual classes better than real. Is education system in for a paradigm change. These were some of the questions raised at a webinar hosted by FICCI and upGrad titled 'Global Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities for EdTech.' According to Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, upGrad, a niche online education service provider- “Today more than ever before, we are at an interesting crossroads when online is in spotlight and it’s been evangelised by everyone. Even the sceptics are now turning evangelists.” He added that going to any particular institution is a one-time event, but learning is not an event but a lifelong process. And for that, you don’t have a choice but to look at online education.” Industry insiders are of the view that there will be a sea chan...

Not just the Original Loverboy, Rishi Kapoor was his Original person, who would stand out for his fearless, unabashed and unapologetic views on anything and everything, much unlike the rest of Bollywood that towed a line of political correctness  By Namrata Kohli  He posted a picture of a sale at Zara's ripped jeans and t-shirts with a caption – ‘Buy two get one begging bowl free.’ That’s Rishi Kapoor for you, who will not keep thinking about pleasing brands, lobbies, khandaans and people but do only one thing-  please himself and unapologetically air his views. He later said in an interview,  to be selling torn jeans for Rs 3,000 i s an insult to India where people live in poverty and we should be ashamed as Indians of actually endorsing it. And yet this would never be said with bitterness. On the contrary there was a child-like enthusiasm and a certain abandon in his personality which made him endearing than others. It was a great experience to read his ...