“St. Valentine gave us a message: Spread love by doing what you can to relieve people around you of their pain. And that is why we are planning to celebrate Valentine's day at Kidwai Memorial Cancer Hospital”. That's what the President of YuvaBenguluru, Kiran G told me last month when I had met him at DeenaSeva Sangha school, where I teach as part of TeachIndia; and which has been adopted by YuvaBengaluru.

Now, when he put it that way, there was no way I'd miss this opportunity to interact with ,and spread love and hope to, patients. And that's exactly what I did this Valentine's day.

Kids from the DeenaSeva Sangha school put up a cultural song and dance show for the patients. You won't believe how talented these kids are. Then, there was a gift distribution event – Kannada film star Ramya did the honours. It's always good to see stars supporting such causes (although it inevitably attracts the media and the “unruly” media behaviour). Along with fruit and soft toys, child patients were also presented with Valentine's Day greeting cards crafted by the kids of DeenaSeva Sangha school; and also a lamp with paintings by the kids again.

I saw several kids at the institute with shaved heads. I assume they have some form and some degree of cancer. Some were as young as 3 years I guess. But, no amount of cancer could take away their childhood spirit from them. They were playing, bursting balloons, giggling, sulking – you name it. Makes me wonder – is their innocence their best ally in fighting the disease? How many adults take their sufferings as well “in their stride” as kids do?

Anyway, participating in today's event made me “feel good” - but it is just a start. What remains to be seen is to what extent I continue to make some noticeable difference in society this year (as I have committed to at the beginning of the year). Looking forward to a year with meaningful contributions.

I am the enemy you killed my friend." This line from Wilfred Owen\'s \'Strange Meeting\' perhaps resonates with men and women in combat, irrespective of the colours they don or the flag they salute. It\'s a line -- from my days as an undergraduate English literature student -- that came to mind as I watched the several television news programmes aired on the Sunday past to commemorate the decennial anniversary of the Kargil war, and India\'s victory in the same.

\'Strange Meeting\', and this line in particular, had made an imprint on me all those years ago, approximately the same time when Indian soldiers were forsaking all they knew, and had, along the border. The impression was not because of the Kargil war, but for the beauty of the word play. And this line sprung to mind, from the dim recesses of my ever-fading memory, on a day that celebrated and honoured the sacrifices of our soldiers.

It is very fashionable to speak of a world sans borders, to espouse a universal brotherhood above national identity. Lennon is often employed in this enterprise: \'Imagine no countries\' is a refrain that is often sung by apostles of universal humanity. Poor Lennon, he must be turning in his grave to see his words often distorted and abused. Don\'t get me wrong. This Utopia is one I\'d like to have been born into, and would wish for the generations to come. But let\'s not get enveloped in candy floss, and do let\'s take a reality check. We live in a real world. And as we know it now, it is not-so-pretty. War is very much a part of this reality. So how do we deal with it?

Funky stuff has been happening on Indian Idol this season. New judges Sunidhi Chauhan and Salim Merchant have been whipping out smart, honest critiques of the singing - not letting squeaky gayaqi go unnoticed. The show\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s resident curmedgeon Anu Malik has been the one handing out bouquets to just about everyone - even those who sound like a cat at the receiving end of a chaata.

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