That touch of healing
The effects of the Gujarat earthquake on the bodies and minds of the survivors would remain long after the\ state itself has achieved some semblance of normalcy. But the people who have lost limbs, suffered kidney failures, been rendered paralysed, or have to live with the agony of having lost a family member or close friend, will bear the scars of that fateful morning, carry the memory of it, to their graves.



United in astrology
It is puerile to view the arrest of an astrologer in Gujarat as an attack against superstition, let alone astrology. Significantly enough, the charge the Gandhinagar police have flung at him is spreading of rumours, and not practice of astrology.



In the name of God
When Markandeya turned sixteen and was told he would have to die, did he lie down quietly, weeping? Or did he meditate with such painful force and focus that God had no choice but to appear and save him? Who was that God? Say Shiva, if you like, but I think it was Markandeya’s own will to live that got him out of trouble.



Other headlines