AVANTIKUMAR

The Tailor as Vishnu

AVANTI KUMAR — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:43:34 +0000

“The Tailor As Vishnu” A fable of old India By AVANTI KUMAR Long, long ago, in the country of the Gandas in a city named Pundravardanam, a young tailor and a carpenter, dressed in their best clothes, wandered through the crowd, celebrating a great festival. They walked beside the Palace, marvelling at the majestic spires gleaming in the warm fragrant Sunlight. The [...]

The First Thrill

AVANTI KUMAR — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:00:23 +0000

In today’s world, when anyone can easily publish a work through the Internet, it still gives me a thrill to have a book accepted by a traditional book publisher. Though I have had other writings accepted (plays for radio, TV and journalism), this is my first book: a nonfiction title called The Science of Happiness. United [...]

The Secret of Religion

AVANTI KUMAR — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:58:51 +0000

As a boy, growing up in London, I once asked this question of one of my teachers at that time. Emerson - a scientist who said mysticism was the only complete science - told me this: “Like all things the answer is absurdly simple: the secret of religion is to always behave as if [...]

Ugliness is learned

AVANTI KUMAR — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:51:35 +0000

“Ugliness is a both a learned concept and skin deep,” said Khambatta, one of my teachers while I grew up in London. I’d reached the ripe age of eleven and had started writing on a typewriter as yet another milestone of being serious about the writing vice. Admittedly, I started off with the idea of wanting to [...]

Politicians go to hell

AVANTI KUMAR — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:36:47 +0000

Khambatta, one of my teachers during childhood in London, had a pretty negative view of people on this planet. As a master, he admitted that all life was joy-filled light and divine, including people; but as individuals, he said, “people stink”. A wide-eyed boy, I revolted. Actually, my usual reaction to Khambatta - and my other [...]

Spirit is in your heart, religion and politics is totally external

AVANTI KUMAR — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:14:55 +0000

“Spirit is deep within you,” so said Khambatta, a teacher I had the good fortune to have in my boyhood days in London. “But politics - and religion - is made by humans. No argument. It is external. Both lead to divisive ends.” So what you mean, I asked, is that politics and religion should be [...]

Blundering my way to Bliss

AVANTI KUMAR — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 00:00:40 +0000

People have accused me of many things. The worst insult they have thrown at me is that I am a teacher. No way. I blundered all the way to my bits of insight and inner joy. Not proud of it. Just stating a fact. And I am not getting any wiser in my every day actions, judging by [...]

Are you doomed to hell?

AVANTI KUMAR — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:11:49 +0000

“You’re in hell already, mate,” John Barstow told me one April evening in 1998. It was in Victoria Station, London; we’d met for a quick drink before boarding Friday evening trains for the weekend. “Let’s say that heaven and hell do not exist,” I mumbled. “Except as - metaphors.” “Crap,” he said wisely. This was some [...]

The Noose, a short story

AVANTI KUMAR — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 02:30:53 +0000

I wrote the first draft below when I was about thirteen. Later, the BBC produced a radio drama version for Radio 3. Your feedback is welcome. THE NOOSE by AVANTI KUMAR My Medical Experience has Convinced Me that Drunkenness is Bad for People - Eryximachus - Plato’s Symposium 416 B *** September 8. London. - Is he awake yet? - [...]

Icebow over Langkawi

AVANTI KUMAR — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:53:42 +0000

The recent appearance of a solar halo above the skies of Langkawi is a phenomenon similar to a rainbow, except that it is formed by the refraction of sunlight through suspended ice crystals, instead of raindrops. A sign of changing times? In older days, such a sign was apparently an ill omen of things to come. To one [...]

How to become a 21st century journalist

AVANTI KUMAR — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 01:42:18 +0000

“Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.” - Cyril Connolly BBC correspondent Alistair Cook was an early pioneer of the podcast, of sorts . Over four decades, using more than 1,000 words, he sent a weekly Letter from America, many of them vivid [...]

What’s your drug of choice?

AVANTI KUMAR — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 01:20:52 +0000

While attending a technology journalist conference on the Indonesian island Bintan, I had time to ponder anew the question of how to find the ultimate and perfectly safe drug. I also learned to make an unequivocal choice for the rest of my life. Yes, short term fun can be had in alcohol, tobacco and various other [...]

How to be a truly successful failure

AVANTI KUMAR — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:00:07 +0000

“Failure is an essential aspect of success,” said Khambatta, a teacher during my teen years in London. Often with a mischievous glint in his eye, he transferred knowledge with what we now call tough love. At that time of my life I believed in my own possibilities to the extreme level enabled by youth. I allowed [...]

Essential truth brings lasting success

AVANTI KUMAR — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 22:00:46 +0000

When our family home was in London, one of my early teachers was Khambatta; a man in his sixties with white hair swept back, a penetrating look in his eyes and a mole on his chin. One morning, on the day I turned fifteen, Khambatta prepared me for his daily talk about why love [...]

What’s the difference between motivation and inspiration?

AVANTI KUMAR — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:00:45 +0000

A colleague asked me the above question yesterday. A quick response: Motivation is a result of energy you choose to switch on inside yourself. No one can motivate anyone else - that would usurp natural laws of will. What we call great motivators or leaders are people who inspire others to press their own internal switches. You [...]