Monalisa Changkija I never met Tarun-Da but he was larger-than-life in my life ~ well, at least his name. This happened because after my grandfather late Imnamathong Changkija was exiled, along with five others including late Rev Longri, from the village by the British way back in the early 1930s, he settled down at the Christian Mission Compound, Jorhat, Assam. My Grandfather’s village ~ and mine, of course ~ is Changki village in Mokokchung district, Nagaland. The American B

Being married to a doctor, I hardly know if I’m going to be greeted next morning with a hug or a syringe! Today it was the syringe for me. “I’m okay!” I shout in protest. “What is the need to draw blood so early in the morning? Sadist wife!” “Listen Bob,” she says firmly in that doctor voice of hers with syringe held threateningly in strike mode, “Stop being an ostrich, there’s nothing wrong in finding out, is there?! I me

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on December 03 Reuters 1912 - Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro signed an armistice ending the first Balkan War. 1919 - French Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir died. 1984 - A gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant near Bhopal, India, killed at least 3,000 people and disabled thousands. 1989 - The leader of East Germany's Communist Party, Egon Krenz, and the entire party hierarchy voted them

With a vaccine manufacturer threatening to sue a volunteer for blaming his illness on the vaccine, I decided to journey into the future and accompany the foreign representative of a fictitious vaccine manufacturer in 2021, as he did a survey after the vaccine had been given to everybody, “Let us go to that village!” said the representative of the fictitious manufacturer. And fictitious it will remain in this narrative, since I don’t have 100 crores, and even if I did,

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on December 02 Reuters 1908 - New Emperor of China Pu-Yi enthroned. 1971 - The United Arab Emirates was formed. 1990 - After German reunification, Chancellor Helmut Kohl's coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP won the first free all-German elections since 1932. 1993 - Pablo Escobar, boss of the Medellin cocaine cartel in Colombia, was killed in a shootout as police tried to arrest him. 2002 - Rowan Williams, controver

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on December 01 Reuters 1918 - Iceland was proclaimed a sovereign state in full agreement with Denmark. 1925 - The Locarno Treaties, guaranteeing peace and frontiers in Europe, were signed by France, Belgium and Germany and their terms guaranteed by Britain and Italy. 1934 - Sergei Kirov, Communist Party leader and associate of Josef Stalin, was murdered in Leningrad. 1959 - Twelve nations signed the Antarctic Treaty

Many years ago, a person I knew very well, a man of God, called me up, and we decided to meet for lunch. Since he was staying near the Tajmahal Hotel, I thought we’d lunch there. But at the entrance to the grand old hotel, he put his arm on mine as he looked at the beggars outside and said, “Bob, do you mind if you could take me to a cheaper place, and you could give the difference you spend to these poor people?” I immediately obliged. Not for a moment did I feel

My neighbour Ramkumar, suddenly appeared in the next balcony of my building and gave me a big smile, “Bob, I’ve discovered a vaccine the world needs at this moment!” “Whoa! Whoa!” I shouted, “You’ve just recovered from the coronavirus, not only you, but your whole family. Is that what you were doing while being quarantined? Becoming a scientist?” “Not exactly,” he said with good humour, tolerating my banter, which normal

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on November 30 Reuters 1900 - The Irish wit and dramatist Oscar Wilde died in poverty in Paris, having earlier served two years in prison in Britain for homosexual offences. His works included the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" and the novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray". 1936 - The Crystal Palace, a huge glass conservatory designed to house Britain's Great Exhibition of 1851, was destroyed

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on November 28 Reuters 1912 - Albania declared its independence after more than 400 years of Turkish rule. 1919 - Nancy Astor was elected as the first woman to sit in the British House of Commons. 1943 - Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met in Tehran to chart the future Allied course for World War Two and decide a post-war future. 1962 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands died, aged 82. She won admiration for h

….yes, a road was widened! The municipality came. Police arrived, shopkeepers protested. But the road was widened! Demolishers came. Workmen with shovels arrived. Labourers with spades worked night and day. And the road was widened! Excavators arrived. Sand trucks appeared. Tar machines tarred, and tarred night and day! And the people rejoiced. Motorists dreamt of seamless driving, pedestrians of uninterrupted walking and residents of less honking! And th

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on November 27 Reuters 1919 - The Treaty of Neuilly was signed, under which Bulgaria was forced to cede territory to Yugoslavia and Greece. 1941 - The last Italian forces in Ethiopia under General Nasi surrendered at Gondar. Over 23,000 prisoners were taken. 1942 - In World War Two, the German army entered Toulon and the French fleet anchored there was scuttled by its own crews. 2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush

“Place the front door where the back door is now!” “Make your bedroom the kitchen.” “Place your kitchen platform here on the right.” “Close this window or put a mirror on the opposite wall.” I watched the man holding the compass giving instructions to those who had just bought a flat. “Will there be prosperity in this house?” “Prosperity if the door is placed a little to the right.” “Trou

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on November 26 Reuters 1922 - The English Egyptologists Howard Carter and George Herbert, Lord Carnarvon, became the first people to enter the tomb of King Tutankhamun since it was sealed more than 3,000 years earlier. 1940 - Nazi German occupiers began walling off the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw, sealing in its 400,000 inhabitants. 1998 - Japan expressed deep remorse for its actions in China during World War Two in a join

The topic of FIR is very vast and complicated. A whole body of judgments exist. However, the thrust here is to cater to common man and therefore, the thrust is on such issues. (a) Delay in Lodging FIR – by Victim or Informant: Sometimes, there may be delay in reporting a crime to the police. The reasons for delay may be many and varied, ranging from simple lack of knowledge about the occurrence of an act which can be categorised as a crime or deliberate delays which may be

Rina Chandran Thomson Reuters Foundation Land inequality is growing worldwide, threatening the livelihoods of 2.5 billion people who directly rely on farming and widening disparities in gender, health and climate-change impacts, researchers warned on Tuesday. The widening gap in ownership and access to land especially hurts small and marginal farmers, women, and indigenous and rural communities, according to a report by the International Land Coalition (ILC) and anti-poverty charit

With nearly fifty vaccines nearly ready, I can imagine this scene soon: The phone rings, and you answer, Yes?” “Sir we are from the Russian vaccine company! We have free gifts to offer along with the dose!” “How nice!” you say, “And what are the free gifts?” “Five masks with each dose!” “Masks?” you ask. “Five sir, five!” “But why should I wear masks after a dose of the vaccine, isn&rs

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on November 25 Reuters 1935 - King George II returns to Greece as monarch. 1936 - Germany and Japan sign anti-Comintern pact. 1952 - Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" opened in London. Still playing to audiences today, it holds the record for the longest continuous run of any show in the world. 1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy was buried with full military honours at Arlington National Cemete

As I watch Trump, disgusted with the way he is not accepting his defeat, I remember watching the Oscars two years ago, and had seen how the host announced the wrong winner of the Best Picture Award: Instead of announcing the prize for ‘Moonlight’ he announced, ‘La La Land’. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway then presented the award to the producers of the wrong movie. They started delivering the acceptance speech, when the hosts ran up and announced to the startled

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on November 24 Reuters 1922 - Execution of Erskine Childers in Ireland. 1929 - French statesman Georges Clemenceau died. Known as "the tiger", he was prime minister of France twice and presided at the post-World War One 1919 peace conference at Versailles. 1944 - The Polish prime minister in exile, Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, resigned in protest against lack of support for the Warsaw Uprising against the Germ