Positive Overtones

The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru The Making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh Book Review Sanjaya Baru’s 2014 account entitled ‘ The Accidental Prime Minister´ describes what he experienced in the UPA-1 when he was Manmohan Singh’s media adviser. Overall the book focuses on three aspects. Firstly, the book describes the events that transpired before Baru’s appointment as chief media adviser. Secondly, the book describes the political issues within the government and the Congress party. And, finally, the book narrates the way the former PM dealt with the foreign policy of the country. Baru’s first series of interactions with Manmohan Singh were quite bitter. Being an editor of a leading newspaper, Baru strongly criticized Singh’s economic policies when the latter was an adviser. The misinterpretations of an interview that was later reported on the newspaper added fuel to the fire. It looked like Baru and Singh had become fierce rivals. However, the events ...

The Pressure Cooker of India:  The Educational System The pressure cooker is one of the most widely used cooking equipment in the kitchen. It is used to make those hard potatoes soft and the delicate tomatoes mushy. Listening to some of the students in schools and colleges and based on my own school experience, I realized that our own educational system has become a brand new pressure cooker. To fix this perpetual problem, the government tried to make it easy for the students but made a bigger mess of it. By letting the students pass, even if they do not meet the required standards, right up to the 10 th grade had seemed like a bright solution to the problem however it ended up producing a bunch of dimwits who take no interest in their studies. Now, I am not fully an enemy to both methods of education but I do feel that we require a little more wisdom. Instead of moving between two extremes, it is better to stick to the point of equivalence, or as Blaise Pascal would...

The Lifeguard's Telepathic Tree It was the 4 th of July when I decided to travel for a short relaxation trip, never knowing that this would become one of those trips that would have a deep impact on me. I had been working tirelessly for the past month that it was time that I had taken a break from work so as to spend some quiet time by myself. And so taking an off from the hectic schedule, I decided to go for a short trip to Kochi. I rented a house owned by my friend to spend the weekend all by myself. The house was beautiful and it had wonderful scenery of the seashore which enhanced its beauty. There I encountered him! I planned for an outing at the beach so that I could bask in the sunshine and enjoy the beauty of the blue waves crush on the golden-brown sand of the seashore. Who knew that I was destined to meet the man who would have a deep impact on my life. He was a life-guard at the beach and so naturally he would spend his time watching out for dangers at sea. H...