This and That aka Daily Musings

This is what I had mailed to my friend Nagesh Mungekar on 17th April 2017. What to read The process of reading enriches us in ways we can never imagine. Reading entertains, educates, motivates, inspires and rejuvenates us. For young readers I would strongly recommend the works of Jeffrey Archer whose literary style is easy to grasp and his stories are fast paced. His stories are highly imaginative with a twist in the end or are peppered with red herrings. One can safely pick up any of short story collections and curl up in bed. He also displays an affinity for India as there is at least one reference somewhere in his stories. One can also read Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the venerable Sherlock Holmes or the other British great Agatha Christie who created such wonderful characters like Ms. Marple or the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. For those who like thrillers, one can read the works of Alistair Maclean. His Satan Bug, Golden Gate, Guns of Navarone, Puppet on a cha

I wrote this small write up on our Tuesday-Friday exercise group International Women’s Day 2020 I wish all my friends a very happy Women’s Day. Achievements of women in various fields are celebrated on this day. The media is full of interviews and stories of successful businesswomen, educators and entrepreneurs. All this is fine, even necessary. But somehow I get this feeling that this day now suffers from tokenism. Women will get plenty of wishes, flowers, dinner at a restaurant or maybe some gift but tomorrow onwards things will be ‘normal’ again. Men would still expect wives to make a hot cup of tea in the morning’, wash clothes and then put them out for drying; look after children; be obedient to the elderly; open the door when they return home in the evening. Women are expected to do all these things irrespective of whether they work or are homemakers. The very fact that we still need to educate or remind people about acknowledging the achievements of the fairer sex denot