A few weeks after the nation was reeling under the shock of demonetization, like a white flag appearing from a trench, after a pitched battle, the two- thousand- rupee note appeared. It was like a truce declared between digital payment and cash. Truce, because though it was legal tender, still two thousand was too huge an amount to be regularly used.

Another reason was that the rich looked at with suspicion, after all they had been brutally betrayed by it’s fallen sister the thousand rupee note, and all thousanders they had stored carefully and hidden in lockers and stitched into mattresses and secret walls were now useless. They wondered whether this was another decoy to trap their black money again, and were not taken in by it’s innocent baby pink look.

My schoolmates have started a WhatsApp group and every now and then we wish a teacher a happy birthday, and in doing so realize how they played an important role in our lives. Till last year, a ninety-six-year old teacher of mine, called me practically every month, just to say hello to me. She passed away a couple of months ago. After she died, and I started missing her calls, I realized how so often we forget to take time to thank people who are important, and have played big roles in our lives.

Last week after the Karnataka victory by the Congress, Rahul flew to Bengaluru to meet his victorious team. He addressed a press conference. He was brief, but what he said was what he’s been telling you and me for some time now, ‘Love won against anger and hate!’

Who were the people to whom he felt he’d shown love? The answer is the poor and the downtrodden. And those poor and downtrodden people are all around us, being bullied by the strong and powerful.

Was intrigued the other day to hear that someone was going to speak on how to negotiate to win. I decided to attend: The speaker was articulate, but as he went on, I realized his methods involved using a clever head and not a compassionate heart.

As I listened, I found that people were just ‘pawns on a chessboard’, and that’s exactly what I see today in most deals, where strategy or cunning is used through guile to control situations, both in business and elsewhere.

The chief minister for Karnataka has finally been chosen, but for a few crucial days after the elections, a tale of two ambitious men holding tightly to the chief minister’s Chair, unfolded!

In my wild imagination while their fight was going one, I see these two glaring at each other as they stand next to the Chair, and then are startled to hear the Chair crying out, “So you two want to sit on me?”