RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR John Keats lived for just 25 years — and, yet, his literary reams of gold have left their imprint on the sands of time. As Percy Bysshe Shelley, another great poet, wrote, “He [Keats] has outsoar’d the shadow of our night;/Envy and calumny and hate and pain,/ And that unrest which men miscall […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR He’s my eldest first cousin’s son — and, in essence, my nephew. His name: Bangalore Ramesh. That he was some years elder to me led us to refer to each other as cousins. That’s one part. On the other, I was always in awe of him — a distinguished psychiatrist, scholar and educator […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Monsoons are not just rain and dance, or change of seasons. They are a time to seek one’s higher self, through moments of solitude. More so, when the pouring rain and dark, sombre clouds grant us a sense of seclusion, a welcome, ‘impromptu’ retreat at home — with a steaming cup of coffee. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Earnestness, it is aptly said, is the font of authority or authenticity, where ‘auto’ means ‘self’ — your original instrument and ‘entea’ — or, tool connotes communication. This explains why our credibility as a speaker, or leader, in any field of activity, for example, is directly correlated to the extent to which the […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR There is a good old, also timeless, Oriental aphorism: “If you have a good diet, of what use is a doctor? And, if you don’t have a good diet, of what use is a doctor?” This leads us to the big question: what is ‘good’ diet, or what, in effect, epitomises a ‘normal’ […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR The word, hypnosis, therapeutic hypnosis, or, better still, hypnotherapy, connotes awe and perplexity in most people. It isn’t either. It is essentially a condition, where the mind accepts suggestions ‘articulated’ by the therapist. Most clinical hypnotherapists prefer to call hypnosis ‘a state of heightened suggestibility’ that can be generated by a permutation of […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR There is a dazzling biology at work inside the brain, including its colossal appetite to storing information. Agreed that information technology has made ‘relative’ the need for long-term memory in the brain passé, but as new research augurs, this may call for the greater use of our working memory — not so much […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR A woman’s breasts’ primal function is to produce maternal milk and wield sexual appeal. A woman who feels at ease with her breasts being the vanguard of the ‘skin of her thought’ stands up straight and self-confident. The breasts, which celebrate a woman’s anatomical endowment, are primarily glandular organs; they encompass no muscle. […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Artistic, or histrionic, settings are limitless connotations — not just random constructs. They are, in more ways than one, burrowed truths moored in wide and deep realities, where each truth is a part of the whole, also its sum and substance. In simple words, acting is a myriad oeuvre that more than highlights, […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR We all know the remarkable connection that exists between psychology and immune function — in health and illness. While harmony between the two is suggested to denote optimal health and well-being, a ‘sickening’ imbalance between them is said to be the cause of a host of diseases, including tuberculosis and AIDS. Though a […]