Sixty years back, the Preamble to the Indian Constitution made a bold promise of a dream. The preamble went on to articulate a direction in which we wish to see India grow. It saidWE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:JUSTICE, social, economic and political;LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; ...

He looked at the photo by the bedside. She was smiling at him. She always did especially when he would do something awkward. If he spilled water from the glass at the lunch table. Or say something awkward when they had company. She would remind him to have his medicine as he enjoyed his cup of tea and newspaper every morning.

Just a short drive from Mysore is the village of Bylakuppe. It is an inconspicuous detour off the main road. The town is called Kushalnagar that can be best described as Little Tibet. The town is home to the Namdroling Monastery which has over 5000 Tibetan monks and nuns.

Take away this ritual of NYRs and you have a greater chance of improving the level of honesty of the masses. The world needs flawed people like me – in urgent need of making resolutions. Heck most of us know just exactly what improvements we have to make in our life. Why wait for the stroke of midnight of the New Year to start doing what we should have been doing anyway? Who needs more broken promises? Here I am – resolution free and loving it. I like the freedom from guilt and broken promises. Any takers?

These were two memorable days spent meeting my classmates from the batch of '84 at XLRI, Jamshedpur, the B-School (see photo) where I was a student. We were all having a grand reunion back at the Alma Mater. The last few months have been spent by the enthusiastic organizers of our batchmates trying to trace out every friend now liberally peppered across the world. Some have turned entrepreneurs, some are stay at home parents, some of them are leaders of the corporate world. It was if anything, a time to change and a time to celebrate.

How do they start their novel? Do they need to think about the opening lines and closing lines?Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk agonizes over the first line – rewriting it 50 or 100 times.John Irving begins his novels by writing the last sentence first.Do they plan out their novels or do they just write and stuff happens* Plot and story structure is all very planned for Pamuk* Ondaatje says he does not even know what the next sentence will be.* Margaret Atwood starts with a rough plot which is usually wrong.* Colum McCann prints out a chapter or two in large fonts and then take the stapled pages to a park to read. He uses eight-point Times New Roman, while he edits dialog because that forces him to squint at the tiny type and read the lines carefully* Anne Rice will spend a year or two researching a book before writing the first draft. She edits continuously as she writes.

There are days when you are the pigeon and there are days when you are the statue. The trick lies in getting an early warning especially on the statue days, so that you can take in a deep breath and last out when your head is being held underwater. In my case the pigeon days are few and far between. It happens ever so suddenly and if I do not immediately take advantage of that tiny sliver of an opportunity I have only myself to blame. Horoscopes are helpful to take a sneak peek into the future. I read them regularly. My newspaper carries two of them (written by two different blokes) on Sunday.