an itinerant observer

Gullibility was my middle name. Till I met Erdogan.   I met him, or maybe he met me, in Istanbul. I had been in Istanbul for just a few days. I was staying in a small inconsequential hotel close to the famous Istiklal Street. Travel to the most fascinating cities thus far was attributable entirely to Ash. Her work-related conferences would be held in lovely resort-type settings and I was not entirely reluctant to tag along. Given a good book or two, my laptop, and my thoughts, I was pretty much a happy camper.      The trip to Turkey was no different. Within the first few days I had already read my book, caught up on my biomedical research writing, and mulled over the intricacy of life; the requisites of any trip with Ash. By then I had also toured the aromatic Spice Bazaar, the majestic Topkapi Palace, the resplendent Blue Mosque, and the breathtaking Haga Sophia. The descriptors were not mine; they were per the tourist’s guide. On the fateful day, I had n...

The day I started believing in bucket lists coincided with the day salsa became a potential need, not just a want, for me to become adept at. Well…perhaps not salsa initially…it was really the tango that I fell in love with when I first saw it performed by Al Pacino in the much acclaimed ‘the scent of a woman’ .  Over the subsequent decade or so I felt a really strong urge to learn the tango. It remained an urge at most. I never proceeded to the stage of learning it in order to become a tango expert. Perhaps it was the lack of an equally excited partner to get me to actively pursue the most elegant of dances. After all, it does take two to tango. Photo credit: Riaz Khan,  a photographer based in Houston One fine night I was chatting with a friend at a restaurant in Rice Village in Houston. We were discussing ‘ the itinerant observer project’ , a potential book of short stories for which my friend, a freelance photographer, was going to provide a visual piece. We both had our i...

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” . This famous saying attributed to Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism and author of the Tao Te Ching, encapsulates my current understanding of 21 st Century Leadership. For me leadership is a process that is dynamic and ever unfolding; a journey versus a destination; with unexpected (and expected) twists and turns, ups and downs, lefts and rights, advances, retreats, and going around in circles. This essay is an evidence-based approach to contemporary leadership that I synthesized through a recent course.    Comparing the 21 st vs. the 20 th century leader: an overall perspective Listed below are some points that 21 st century leaders need to be cognizant of; points that were neither widely acknowledged nor considered important enough, in the previous century.    ·        Be open-minded and open-hearted; be authentically generous in giving and receiving feedback. · ...

A few weeks back I received an invitation to present a keynote at the Iqra University for a conference on education . When I first received the email, my first thought was that it was either spam or sent to me mistakenly. For three reasons. (1) I’m a doctor and researcher, (2) what do I have to do with pedagogy of education; in fact, I shudder whenever I am faced with something like that, and (3) the exit route – not to get involved in more things when you are already doing two full time jobs.   Anyhow, on reading the email further, I was hooked: I came across phrases like ‘Covid-19 has changed our assumptions’ , ‘rethinking education and learning spaces’ , but above all, ‘sustainable education and educating sustainability’. Although, to be honest, I had to remind myself that the latter wasn’t just a tongue twister! Once reassured that I indeed was the intended recipient of the invitation, and that I indeed would be the right person for this, I started with drafting a brief out...