Saravana

Defining Terrorism There is an old saying that “one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist.” This saying indicates some of the problems in defining terrorism precisely. Some years ago, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) waged a campaign of terrorism against the British government and its people as part of its effort to drive the British out of Northern Ireland. Many people in Northern Ireland and elsewhere hailed IRA members as freedom fighters, while many other people condemned them as cowardly terrorists. Although most of the world labeled the 9/11 attacks as terrorism, some individuals applauded them as acts of heroism. These examples indicate that there is only a thin line, if any, between terrorism on the one hand and freedom fighting and heroism on the other hand. Just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so is terrorism. The same type of action is either terrorism or freedom fighting, depending on who is characterizing the action. Although dozens of definitions...

                               Social Awareness  India on the Forefront of Mitigating Climate Change      We all have a bleak picture in our minds of what would happen if climate change remained a challenge for India. But do we really know the outcome? Climate change is a massive threat to mankind; therefore, many countries, including India, are trying to combat its detrimental effects. Here is what you need to know why the subject is a “now or never” situation for India and what can be done to tackle the effects of climate change.      Broadly speaking, the geographical surface of the Indian subcontinent is divided into six physiographic regions, which are namely the Himalayas, Peninsular Deccan Plateau, the Indo-Gangetic Plains, Coastal Plains, the Thar Desert, and the Islands. Each physiographical region has a unique climatic profile and vulnerability profile...

The Story of My Reading Life                                   I n 2020, at the Chennai Book Fair, I heard something that was bewildering and powerful at the same time. After walking around the book stalls for a few hours, I stepped out, and I was relieved to find a coffee stall. I bought a cup of coffee, placed my backpack filled with books on the ground, sat on a tiny plastic stool, and started to drink my coffee as slowly as I could. Two men walked to the stand. The one who reached the stand first asked for a cup of coffee. The other man who had just reached the stand pulled out his wallet from his pocket, enquiring how much a cup cost, and when he heard that he had to pay thirty rupees for each cup, he turned to the other man at once and said, ‘Thirty rupees. Do you really need coffee now? We can buy a book for thirty rupees.’ The one who was holding the cup was about to start drinking, ...

How the Books we Read Shape Our Lives           I came across this article in the Independent called, “How the Books we Read Shape Our Lives,” by DJ Taylor. While an interesting read, I found the premise how books shape our lives far more interesting than the article. How have books shaped my life? Beginning in 3rd grade, I was a prolific reader and read everything I could manage to get hold of, including the backs of cereal boxes or tooth paste tubes. In addition to this off-the-cuff reading, I had access to books in a few and set ways: Scholastic flyers (those lovely four-page newsprint flyers that were issued out about every six weeks where I could order books for $1 or $2 dollars a piece — or sometimes even less!), my school library, the local library of a small Texas town, and books we had at home that belonged mostly to my father. This limited the kinds of literature I was able to read — or even know existed. The books I most remember reading c...