Musings of a life-watcher
To know something about anything, you’ve come to the right place.
Find me on twitter @Soldier_forlife
Crossed Word
Having crossed sixty and the wife edging steadily but surely towards that beatified landmark, we haven’t found answers to too many questions in life, philosophical or others. The truth in the above quote thus found immediate traction with us…helped further by the fact that we are self avowed word buffs. In an age when people…
Cricket Momma
A highly educated and well read lady who will be 90 shortly and suffers, in varying degrees, from every possible ailment that a human body can take, my mother turned an avid cricket fan a couple of years back, well past her mid eighties. Her frail medical condition, accentuated by near complete hearing loss, has…
All Those Gizmos
Following a spate of ill health, consequent surgery and convalescence, I, a retired man over 60, have been further reduced to a piece of furniture in the house. Of course furniture has more uses…but that lament we shall leave for another day. The wife fusses over me and lovingly admonishes me on this and that.…
Yogahurt
A disclaimer…or health warning if you will, before I proceed further : I have nothing against Yoga or its purported benefits…or against the thousands who are its diehard adherents. Amongst the aforementioned thousands is the wife…a self proclaimed Yoga Guru. This blog was occasioned when she recruited me as one of her disciples. She has great…
Sexy at Sixty 👴
As I turned three score, or 5 dozen – or , for the mathematically vulnerable, simply 60 years, I thought this was a good time to take stock of a life, which, to use a cliché, had just whizzed by. Hackneyed adages like ‘age is only a number’, ‘you are as old as you think’ etc…
We the ‘Booked’ 📖
Inspired by a discussion I recently heard on the reading habit , or lack of it, in today’s children, am re-posting my blog ‘We the Booked’
Love me? Stay away!
Corona times. Difficult times. Unforeseen times and conditions. Too much has been and is being written on the subject for much novel thought to be added to the stockpile. Gallows humour on social media abounds. Stoicism, wit, clever double entendres and smart memes keep you amused on your WhatsApp groups, Facebook and Twitter, as you…
Paper Caper
One of the several several joys that retirement held was reading the newspaper at leisure…a pleasure often denied during service due to many faceted demands of work, lack of time, small places I was posted at, bum jobs and so forth. So, early after hanging my spurs, chalked out a schedule, central to which was…
Till Life Do Us Part
A close friend, rather scholarly, a man of letters, once gave me a bit of ‘literary’ advice which I have since mulled over and only now decided to act upon. With more than a little trepidation, though. He said if I wanted to gain traction, resonance or begin to establish myself as a serious writer…
The Hector Years
What would you say about a dog who lives the most vivacious life, gives joy wherever he goes, loves everyone unconditionally, never sulks, knows no dog tricks and then dies on you? That was Hector, our pet Labrador who was part of our lives for 8 years. Happy years, growing up years, tumultuous years -…
18 Till I Live ⛳
Those of you who were drawn to this blog by the title and hoped for an analysis of pop genre or an insight into the wonderful Bryan Adams song of 1996 (18 Till I Die), are in for a disappointment. This is not about eternal youth or the prolific Canadian songwriter and singer. It is…
Low Fliers 🚉
Most Indians who fly today rode Indian Railways back in the 70s, 80s and up until the late 90s. While the railways remain unquestionably the most widely used means for getting from one place to another in India, so many people who have taken to flying don’t travel trains any more. Apart from the obvious…
We the ‘Booked’ 📖
Before any other thing, let me explain the ‘we’ in the title. It is people born in the 60s, a little earlier, or possibly mid 70s. A generation which (in India) did not have access to television and the internet. A generation which could not tuck itself into bed without a book – many often…
The Hand that Rules ✋
I had a most interesting month-long holiday in USA recently. Refreshing, invigorating, enlightening, enjoyable and at the same time a bit disconcerting and unsettling. Some ambivalence here, I realize. Well, stories from my USA diary will find their way to the blogspace someday. I will then endeavour to explain the conundrum. The nascent writer in…
Long is Lame
As soon as my first blogpost, on nothing really, was out, I was swamped with feedback. Most of it was good because it came from friends and acquaintances, who probably wanted to be nice. Notwithstanding the element of familial obligation and courtesy in these texts, I was perked up – seemed like I had arrived…
Blogging Blues of a Services Scribbler
Military Intelligence is an oxymoron – I am not the first to say so, though I wish I was. This notwithstanding, whenever I wanted to utter this witticism while in service, I was afraid: some full-of-himself General or Admiral may take exception and subject me to a harangue on how inept I was,who the hell…
nothingmuch 