PEREGRINATIONS

Just finished reading a book on Genghis Khan (and the Making of the Modern World) by Jack Weatherford. Have always wondered why is Alexander ‘the great’? Does being good at killing people guarantee greatness in history? Unlike Alexander who conquered great armies with skill and strategy and promptly died, Genghis Khan also conquered much greater armies but lived long enough to improve and enhance the lives of his subjects in the ensuing decades peace. He and the Mongols who followed him, especially his grandson Kublai Khan, created an empire so much ahead of anything else available in the world in those days that it couldn’t stand the test of the times. One thing that becomes clear as you read the Mongol history, which is just a slice of all history, is that humans cannot live without conflict for very long. We have an insatiable hunger for violence and war. Every stretch of peace and prosperity is the result of elimination of all opposition, as proved by Genghis Khan. And every confli...

.............a euphemism for daydreaming. Why live for today when tomorrow is bound to be better. Why have the chocolate today when you can save it for tomorrow (....and then you never get to eat it because your brother does not subscribe to the same school of thought!). An easy, effortless, tried and tested method to escape living, everyday. Subah zaroor aayegi, subah ka intezaar kar (the morning is sure to come, do not give up hope, wait for the morning) . And till then, lets sink into the oblivion of sleep. But one day you realize you are on a westbound midnight train and the morning is always half a world away................ We have a house guest, a friend of my roommates'. He has degenerative cardiomyopathy and progressive ataxia as a result. He is my age. Once when I made a comment, borne out of the arrogance of youth and invincibility of good health about a very old aunt, who seemed to me to be living a utterly boring and meaningless life.....'what is the point of h...