Screenshot: Prime Time with Ravish Kumar, May 9, 2018, NDTV. YouTube.In India today, one cannot talk of science, history or politics without a reference to mythology. Godmen and astrologers make their daily pronouncements on the TV channels. So, how does one report the emergence of an independent journalist in a sea of embedded media. One attributes it to the divine intervening to reform His degraded profession! Sorry, this outrageous statement was designed to make you read this piece on Ravish Kumar, a TV anchor from India. In order to be read or heard today, one has to shout and shock. In the confrontation-loving high-decibel society, the one who shouts the…

Michelle Obama might be fielding questions as to whether or not she’s running for president, but she’s not too busy to dole out advice to Meghan Markle. Obama, who is promoting her memoir, Becoming, had some words of wisdom for Markle in a recent interview with Good Housekeeping — from one public figure to another. Yet, it’s relatable to the rest of us listening in. As someone who’s familiar with being in the public eye on a global level, Obama said she could relate to the circus surrounding Markle, and advised that the newlywed Duchess of Sussex take some time to put on her own gas mask before launching into…

Is the sketch above of a duck or a rabbit? There’s no right answer. Psychologist Joseph Jastrow created this ambiguous sketch in 1899 to demonstrate the power of suggestion. It’s since been used in numerous studies to show the power our mental processes have over visual stimuli. In one study, the image was shown to children around Easter and they tended to see the image as a rabbit. But when children were shown the image around October, more saw it as a duck.  The image has been shown time and time again to show how we internally project our life experiences and assumptions onto ambiguous visual stimuli. On a deeper level,…

The cacophony and rhythm of clacking typewriters made Mrs. Gilbert’s typing course memorable. Sophie made it life changing. Each class would begin the same way. We’d take a fresh, crisp piece of paper, and attempt to put it into the typewriter, properly. This meant it had to be placed on the roller holding your paper, so that it was parallel with the paper blade. Exactly one inch from the top. Mrs. Gilbert would check with the ruler she carried on her like a switchblade, to ensure you were right. And then, a mimeographed bit of text that you would have to reproduce, perfectly. She would set the timer and say:…

A woman in our town recently told me I should run for president, which of course would be flattering had she not also told me Elvis was alive and farming in Iowa. Nevertheless, it made me think what I would do if I were president, and I decided I would have the government buy everyone a motorcycle. I’ve been riding motorcycles since 1977 and in that time have not committed a single act of murder, theft, or treason. From this, I can only conclude that the average motorcyclist is a model of rectitude. I’ve owned 13 bikes, a mix of Japanese and British manufacture, so can declare unequivocally that while…

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and vice chief of the defence staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger arrive in Downing Street, London, for a cabinet meeting. Image: PAThe UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson delivered what he clearly hoped would be a high-profile speech on 11 February. Its theme was that Brexit is a golden opportunity for Britain to regain its place as one of the great nations of the world. Leaving the European Union, he said, will allow the UK “to consider how we not only project but maximise our influence around the world in the months and years to come.”     At the root of the vision is military power.…

Behind the carefree holiday of a cruise—the dancing waiters, the constant shows and events, the spreads of great food, and the escape from daily drudgery—is a serious industry that has changed what people expect out of a vacation. It was built by several entrepreneurs who took advantage of changes in American lifestyles, married the design of a resort with the rhythm of a theme park, put it on a boat, and won sweet deals through giant loopholes in American laws. As a business model, the cruise industry has been phenomenal, a $40 billion business in the United States alone, and the fastest-growing segment of the global tourist industry. Cruises are…

The top of a French horn collided with my head as I climbed aboard a shuttle bus in Aspen. “Sorry,” said the teenage girl hidden beneath her big brass instrument. I had just arrived in Colorado for a conference on medical problems of musicians and dancers. The opening session was scheduled to begin at eight. Aspen’s annual music festival was wrapping up, so the pretty alpine town was filled with talented young students, elite teachers, and a renowned musician or two. Through the bus’s open windows I gazed at Rocky Mountains ignited by the rising sun and took a deep contented breath of clean, crisp air, reveling in my escape…

An op-ed published in the New York Times has shaken Washington to its core with revelations from within Trump’s own White House. Forget the various scandals facing President Trump or even the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election. His greatest enemy may literally come within – according to a bombshell op-ed in The New York Times on Wednesday, purported to be written by a senior official in Trump’s own administration. “The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and…

I’m of the opinion that nothing is ever truly forgotten. A memory can be submerged below the surface, buried for years, then you smell a specific scent or hear a certain phrase and the memory returns. Not always intact. Never perfect. But somewhat restored. Summer came back to me that way. After thirty years, she returned as I lay on the floor of my office, pain tearing through my chest and down my arm, dying. I saw her, not in the room with me, but in the hot July sun, her dark hair curled around her finger. Her head was tilted in that way she always used to tilt it…