“No one understands what I am saying!” I sob in front of my father. And as if his whole life had led up to this one moment, Father takes a sheet of plain paper from his printer, grabs his fountain pen, and places them in front of me. “Write what you know about the Goods and Services Tax," he commands. As I pick up the pen, I cannot help recounting what had happened in school the previous month. ******************************************************************************* It is...

"Rajvir! Come here for a second," bellowed my Chacha (Hindi for dad's brother) from the living room downstairs. It was the moment I was dreading for the past few hours. Slowly, unwillingly, I descend the stairs, into the room where everyone was gathered - Papa, Chacha, Mama - everyone was there. I knew I was caught. A few moments later, my uncle and I are whizzing through the streets of Patiala on his new bike. "Didn't you want to go...

My first brushes with Physics came as a child when I used to make “buildings” (with kitchen utensils) that inevitably fell over when my mom needed her spatula back from the bottom of the stack. Why did my "building" fall? Over the years, I learned that Physics is how our world works. From the airplanes that drone over my house, to the flight of the football into the top corner of the goal, everything is an application of the laws...

"But how will I go to the kitchen if I get thirsty at night?" the twelve-year-old Rajvir asks his mother. "I am scared of the dark." My mother soothingly replies, "You've got to be a brave, young man now. Your Dadi needs you". Forever since I could remember, I had slept in the cozy comforts of my parent's bedroom, where my parents could protect me from the wrath of the monsters that often haunted my dreams. But the last few...

The keys clack under my fingers, and the words quickly appear on the screen. I refer to the copious amounts of notes I have made, and the hour long conversations I’ve had about the topic with friends and family. I finish the article, and add it to the folder marked “Ready for publishing”. A few hours later, it’s up on CurrentHow. I always used to write, but my opinions as a child used to be confined to a...

My best friend and I dig into the delectable kulcha cholas - a traditional Punjabi dish, and as our fingers break the moist, soft, bread and dip it in the smooth gravy, we stop talking and concentrate on our meal. Food is important in Punjab. Happiness calls for a certain food, sadness for another. If you’ve ever been to the wedding of a Punjabi immigrant here in America, you know what I am talking about. But let’s go...

"What am I supposed to do?" "Better. Much better" Book 2 - Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks “Ouch!” A shriek of pain pierces through the air of my otherwise tranquil house. Instantly, I hear the shuffling of footsteps, as my Dad gets on his way to rescue me from the top of the cupboard yet again. I whimper there, all alone in the dark, realizing that the secret operation I had embarked on had failed yet again. Papa arrives soon...

Four things that compose our world: Pearl Jam, Philip Pullman, Plato, and Pablo Neruda More generally, Music, Fiction, Philosophy, and Poetry Let us define world here. World, for the next few hundred words, means, “the human condition of existing and going through the motions of life.” Pearl Jam isn't my favourite band. It isn’t even my second or third- favourite band. So why does my fourth-favourite band form a quarter of the world as I see it? Because they...

"Well, you still might want to look at college. The family business isn't going anywhere." "But my father says it will probably be a waste of time." I have so often had this conversation with so many of my friends, who like me, come from families with businesses and a legacy of the father handing over the reins to his son when he came of age. I love walking around my father's showroom, but I love Engineering and Entrepreneurship so...