Dheeraj Kalgutkar

If there is one place in the entire universe where men talk men stuff openly without any inhibitions and holding back, it must be The Barbershop. Hands Down. In a vast infinite cosmos it is one place where men bitch about the other sex without worrying about the other sex listening to them. Imagine it as some exclusive-for-men holy shrine. Barbering is a cult without the formal ‘cult’ status from any authority because hey! which cult cares for outside authority? Barber is our leader, the priest. The men, his flock. Barber is no ordinary man. He knows about you without your’ uttering a word. He knows when you had your last haircut. He knows what haircut suits you and what won’t. At Barber’s, men indulge in men-talk. Even historically, barber’s place have been known to be social gathering venues where men gather for their daily share of gossips and news. It is where they religiously join for their share of stress release. You thought only women banter? Well, men ...

In a recent attack on an army camp in Uri, Kashmir, India by 4 terrorists, 18 army soldiers have lost their lives. Many are injured. In January this year, we had lost 7 army personnels and 1 civilian in another terror attack which is better known today as Pathankot Attack . Before that there were other attacks and other deaths. How easy to sum things up right? State there is attack, numbers of people died, give attack a name, you’re done. And yes, add RIP or ‘my thoughts go out to’ or better ‘bomb Pakistan’, etc. If you are from government, then you’re in for luck. You express yourself in certain templates, if you are Prime Minister you tweet this. We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri. I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 18, 2016 We strongly condemn because last time we only ‘condemned’. Plain simple condemn without stressing it ‘strong’. Make ...

  Birds. Those lovely creatures with colorful feathers. The ones that can fly. We all love them, don’t we? May be we do. But sometimes our actions don’t speak for our words. May be we love the pleasure they bring to our hearts with their sounds and flights but we care very less for their life. Let’s face it. Why am I suddenly speaking about them? Well, something happened few days ago that involves a native Indian Bird, Myna, few of us humans and those glass walls which have become symbols of our metro culture. In India, people believe spotting a lonely Myna amounts to bad luck but they’ve reasons to believe too.. Image: ceochick Of late due to some work or other, I have not been visiting Central Cafeteria building at my workplace which is a huge two-storied round construction with minimum concrete and maximum glass walls. Probably the lead architect thought it will invite in natural light reducing cost of artificial lighting. Whatever his/her reasons, the...

Everyone who follows news or not but on social-media platforms knows that something is going on in a part of world called Syria. Few know what it is but don't know why and those who know why too, wonder why US president Obama is pitching for war against state of Syria. This piece is for all such enthusiasts who know bits and wish to explore more. To know exactly what is going on in Syria and why is a challenge in itself. On basic note as New York Times says it: Syria and its history are actually complicated. So mastering its happenings ditto is long, tedious and near impossible task. Let us not deal the same. To begin with, Syria is a country in middle-east, along the eastern shore of Mediterranean Sea with population of 22 million. It is diverse, ethnically and religiously, but most Syrian’ are ethnic Arab and follow Sunni branch of Islam. Presently it is in the middle of extremely violent civil war, fighting between rebels and government forces has killed 100,000 and ...