an ambitious journey

 As the election season is near, I couldn't help but notice the negativity propagated by partisans and staunch supporters of the opposition parties. As a student, from the very beginning of my studies, my books have taught me how flexible our democracy is and how our preamble exhorts us to be just in all spheres of life. But I've always wondered if this plethora of goodness which is instilled in us really helps us to tackle different types of situations.  I say so because recently, I came across a news where a Hindu man was assaulted by a group of Muslim men as the former was playing Hanuman Chalisa in his shop. I'm not biased towards any one religion but having been a neutral spectator for some time, my stance on such matters has organically been influenced by interpreting who's the lesser evil.    While I was ruminating this news, I had several other epiphanies where I realized how news of atrocities faced by my Hindu brothers and sisters on a daily basis are ...

  My parents recently joined a bird watching and stargazing group in Dehradun. It is administered by Mr. Satpal Gandhi, a professional stargazer and birdwatcher. Various sessions are conducted for the group members and their friends which helps spreading of this hobby to many future bird watchers and star gazers.            Mr. Gandhi, on 12th December, asked all the group participants if they were interested in going for a trip the next day, to a place called Asan Barrage for experiencing a meteor shower and observing rare birds. My parents asked my sister and me if we wanted to go and out of excitement we said yes. I was informed by my parents to pack warm clothes as it would be really cold and we would be staying near a water body during the month of December. We set off at noon and reached Asan Barrage at half past 2. We all got mesmerized the moment we saw that place. It was a magnificent riverscape and the cottages had a conical rooftop with...

It was May 1999 when an Indian army patrol led by Lt. Saurabh Kalia walking along LOC in Kargil went missing that raised eyebrows at the headquarters. What came back were badly mutilated bodies of our brave soldiers. This incident started the fourth war between India and Pakistan; The Kargil war or Operation Vijay, which started from May 3rd and ended on July 26th. Yes, this was the fourth time that a war was thrust upon the Indian subcontinent. The war continued for 2 months prior to Pakistan's defeat. 527 Indian soldiers were martyred, breaking the hearts of numerous people and leaving behind hundreds of families in grief. Many soldiers had been awarded with the Paramvir Chakra for their brave and courageous act. India had to fight to maintain its territorial integrity. Though in general wars are not desirable, but one can  flip the pages of history and more importantly in the Indian context, the wars had been fought against invaders, blunderers and enemies of the state. ...