Author: Banjara Academy

I often wonder why numbers are so important to us: businessmen want more customers, multinationals set higher and higher yearly targets, religious gurus want more and more followers, ordinary people want more friends on Facebook – in fact we patronize those who have large number of people accepting someone. I…

Grandfather taught me that one should not be too curious or inquisitive about others and their personal lives. He exhorted me to maintain a dignified distance, not indulge in gossip, and allow people the freedom if and when they wished to disclose something about themselves. That was ages ago. Today…

Someone nicely said that a child goes through three stages before he reaches adulthood: “Hold me tight, Put me down, Leave me alone.” Babies want to be held, toddlers want to be put down and explore on their own, and teenagers just want to be left alone! I was thinking…

Someone gave me an interesting food for thought. He said: “Creative ideas come in bed, bath and bus”, i.e. when you are about to sleep, when you are leisurely taking a bath, or when you are travelling. I do find it true to a great extent. Give it a thought. On…

We spend less than Rs. 80,000 crore annually on education in our country, which works out to about Rs. 640/- per Indian. On the other hand much bigger amounts are spent on other areas of development. For example we pour in Rs. 3,60,000 crore annually for defence alone. A recent…

I sit on the balcony and look out. Some fields below, cows grazing, and birds flitting about. A dog wags her tail when I call out to her, a cat ignores my greeting and walks away majestically. The gaze goes beyond, and the land rises up to lush green-covered hills.…

As an ardent student of human behavior, I often like to know how much time people spend in trying to understand their own self. Many of us take deep interest in analyzing, understanding and commenting on others. Not only those who are involved with us, but even about political leaders,…

The festival worth celebrating most, our country’s Independence Day, has just gone past. Most of us were born after India gained independence, so we have not experienced what it is like to live under the control of a foreign power. When we go around a totally free, democratic, secular and…

Recently someone called me and wanted to meet me for his own need, and on the fixed time he neither came over nor did he inform me. Later when I checked with him he was not sorry in the least, and just smiled and said, “I forgot.” I was upset…

I was invited to preside over a Panel Discussion on Mental Illness and Borderline Personality Disorder. While many insightful thoughts, research findings and professional opinions were presented, my thought went off to the word ‘Borderline’. I sat asking myself, “Are we not all borderline cases when it comes to mental…