Category Archives: Compass

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR So far as the audience was concerned, he’s as meritorious a master of ceremonies anyone ever saw. A prodigious batsman with the princely touch, he’s nonchalant, where many would hurry; and, utterly regardless, where many would defend. His effortless presence denoted just one thing: computerised efficiency, something that could, at times, fail. A […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR All of us are a plethora of emotions and feelings that represents a ‘smorgasbord’ of consciousness levels — akin to the onion with its several layers. Such levels correspond to a host of patterns that mirror our day-to-day life just as well — viz., alertness, or wakefulness, sleep and dreams, including our essential […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Elvis Presley was not born rich; he came from a poor Mississippi family. But, he enriched music, like no other singer — before, or after him. Presley showed a rare gift for musical talent, at a very early age. In the process, he absorbed all the styles related to a host of genres, […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Sir Jack Hobbs was a purists’ purist. He brought to batting a new dimension, a rare canvas of perfection: something that is as yet unmatched. Hobbs’ art was full of profound expression, a fount of wisdom. Of subtle refinement and classical definition — a celebration of cricket syntax and grammar. Hobbs [December 16, […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Sir Ian Botham. The name’s the high-maiden of cricket — an epiphenomenon of classicism and the abstract. Of varied alternatives for every situation. Botham’s identity was such that it always shone, what with the great man’s several zones of potentialities. It also filled in the slots between what was done; at others, of […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR I’ve been, right from my formative years, witness to elders in the family attending discourses on philosophy, also scriptures. I’d, however, never ever gauge the tenor of their impact on anyone. I’d be aloof without being officious of their ‘hold’ thereto in the perimeter of my nascent, albeit expanding inquisitiveness. This was, doubtless, […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Hope is, in simple terms, a hovering, oft-soaring element in our culture. It is also a part of received wisdom, not to speak of works of fiction — old and new. Yet, it is only in contemporary life that hope is disclosing its connotation in scientific studies. Most adults plagued by long-lasting illnesses, […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Our mind is more than an advance — a mirror to life itself. It’s also far ahead of what René Descartes, the mediaeval philosopher, reasoned: “I think, therefore, I am.” We all know it — that within the world of matter is the body, even though our fundamental body goes beyond matter in […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The word, cancer, sends an eerie chill down everyone’s spine, or cascading gun fire in one’s mind. In medical terms, cancer is a group of cells, usually derived from a single cell that has lost its normal control mechanism. The consequence is unfettered cell growth. Cancer can begin almost anywhere in the body. […]

RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Genius, said Arthur Schopenhauer, the great philosopher, is the ‘completest’ objectivity; a decided predominance of knowledge over will. It holds up to us the magic glass of all that is essential in the clearest light. So much so, what is accidental, or foreign, is automatically left out. Genius, added Schopenhauer, is not merely […]