Deep Adhya, PhD

It has been more that forty years since the first mission on moon. Since then, moon has been invaded many times, by man or unman. But all of these missions have needed rigorous planning and plenty of Government money. And, now Richard Branson aims at sending tourists to space and someday even to the moon.  But all that is besides the point. Mandi House is a seven-point crossing at the heart of New Delhi. It is located close to the famous Connaught Place and it is the cultural hub of the city. Other than the National School of Drama, it is home to several auditoriums and museums. But what is its relationship with Manesar?  Manesar is a little village in Haryana about 50km away from Mandi House. Other than the silly village folk who live here, it is home to the headquarters of the National Security Guard or the NSG. NSG serves the obvious purpose of protecting our vulnerable nation against evil-doers. It is also a seat of national intelligence (or so run the rumor m...

He sat in the corner, not able to decide what to do in his free time. Each day after he finished his assignments and came back home, he was faced with this unique problem. He was a cartoonist, and he was experienced in drawing caricatures of men. But that was at night. At day time, he worked in a lab.  When he was at home, there were so many people around, known or unknown. Just looking at them gave him weird ideas on how to turn them into cartoons. Often he went back home, put pencil on paper, then for a couple hours was transported to an imaginary world of facial elements floating, which through his willpower he harnessed and put together into a living form on paper. There was nothing dull about such days however trying the work might have been. He was satisfied with his life, happy with the little that he did.  On some days, he went to the theatre, watching whatever went on, getting ideas from individual performances. He rarely ever cared about the story, and even...

Silence! Enough said. Listen to the delirious rapture of hungry birds. Watch the steady eyes of the crouching cat. The aroma reaches the nostrils with the gentle waft of air as you walk with the bag of food to the dining room. The pet dog watches patiently, expectantly, his mouth half open. You slowly open the screen door to enter the room where hungry humans have gathered. There is no need to announce. Opening the bag, you find several plastic bowls, the food glistening through their transparent lids. Someone has to bring in the rotis. That has been taken care of, thankfully. Eating together had never been so systemized. You close the door on the eager dog and solemn cat. Once inside, your heart softens. You unpack the food. Humans, they eat all day, yet are the greediest of all animals. Looking at the food, they know they are going to eat it but soon start whining when they still don’t find anything on their plate after a couple of minutes. Whose fault is it? The momentar...