In IIT hostels, most of us were 2 am warriors. We would be routinely awake till 2 or 3 am, and the canteen would be crowded after midnight. That may sound heroic, but hear out the rest of the story before you decide. Since the night was infinitely long (in our mind),...
A few years ago, I noticed a very strange pattern. Whenever I would do an intense workout, especially long runs, it instantly flipped how I perceived life. Now, at first blush, it may not sound all that remarkable – after all, it is pretty well known that an...
In 2002, after becoming President, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was visiting VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre), Trivandrum, where he had worked earlier. In a conference room, he and the scientists were busy, talking like old friends. As the Trivandrum City Police chief, I was...
I once thought that the biggest harm from digital distraction (e.g., WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.) was wastage of time. It is like saying that drugs are harmful because they cost money. But if someone gave them free, would they be ok? Time-wastage is the smallest of the...
One evening in 2008, in our small two-bedroom house in New Jersey, standing on the staircase with a colorful plastic ball, my daughter asked me, ‘Papa, let us play.’ I brusquely told her, ‘No, I am very tired.’ She accepted it and did not...
