Ashok Anchan

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do. He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use. Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car. "You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized. " "Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sports...

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver andget back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watchhim at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fireand let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner andpurifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being r...

It was the ninth night of the war at Kurukshetra. The exact midpoint of the legendary 18-day bloodbath. Not the start, not the end, but the middle. The war had been inconclusive. Sometimes the Kauravas led by the old sire Bhisma had the upper hand; sometimes the Pandavas led by the young warlord, Dhristadhyumna, Draupadi's twin brother, had the upper hand. A see-saw that was going nowhere. "Bhisma loves us too much to defeat us," said the Pandavas. "Yet not enough to let us win," reminded Krishna. "He must die, if dharma has to be established. " But Bhisma had been given a boon by his father that he could choose the time of his death. No one could therefore kill him. "If we cannot kill him, we must at least immobilize him." "But no one can defeat him," said the Pandavas. "Even the great Parashurama could not overpower him in a duel. So long he holds a weapon in hand he is invincible." "Then we must make him lower his ...