Ravi Shankar

Life’s challenges can strengthen a person when faced with courage, effort and faith, the passage says. Favourable periods may bring joy and expansion, while difficult situations can reveal hidden strength and deepen understanding. It urges people to give their best to every task, avoid leaving positive action to fate, and remain centred regardless of outcomes in life.

Indian Army Chief General Dhiraj Seth began a three-day visit to Nepal on Monday, his first overseas trip since taking charge, amid growing calls in the country for the resumption of recruitment of Ne

Excessive screen time and insufficient physical activity are increasingly common among adolescents and have been linked to adverse physical and psychological health outcomes. This school-based cross-sectional study examined associations between sedentary screen time, physical activity frequency, and motor control performance in adolescents, and explored acute psychophysiological responses to a single bout of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). A total of 366 adolescents (mean age = 14.52 ± 1.21 years) were categorized into low-, moderate-, or high-screen-time groups and classified as physically active or inactive based on self-reported behavior. Participants completed standardized assessments of balance, coordination, neuromuscular speed, and reaction time. All participants then undertook an 8-minute HIIT session, with pre- and post-exercise measures of heart rate recovery, perceived exertion, and self-reported mood and cognitive states. Higher daily screen time was significantly associated with poorer motor control performance across multiple domains (p < 0.001), whereas greater frequency of physical activity was independently associated with better motor control performance (B = 1.45, 95% CI 0.88–2.02, p < 0.001). Physically active adolescents demonstrated superior heart rate recovery, lower perceived exertion, and more favorable post-exercise profiles of fatigue and alertness compared with inactive peers. The HIIT session elicited significant acute improvements in energy, alertness, motivation, and cognitive focus, alongside reductions in fatigue and tension (all p < 0.001). These findings indicate that greater sedentary screen time is associated with poorer motor control performance in adolescents and suggest that brief, school-feasible physical activity strategies warrant further investigation as potential approaches to support physical and psychological health. Given the cross-sectional design, these associations should not be interpreted as evidence of causality.

You feel like someone has to shake you out of this habit of worrying! You forget there is a bigger power that exists and is taking total care of you; and everything is being provided for you by the...

There is a problem with praising politicians. They are treated like gods until their inevitable fallibility becomes a joke. Hagiography: “This leader is a great personality” followed by the analysis: “What does this leader's success reveal about how power actually works? Is the demonstration of intention politically viable and sincere?” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's direct, personal, highly visible interventions in governance are significant not because he is Tamil Nadu's Mr Clean, but also because he has exposed the old order's canon that structural reform in India is impossible and complicated. This maxim has consequences that affect the most powerful socio-political force in India: Gen Z and Gen A. The old order says: “Corruption exists because governance is knotty and we need expert committees, due process, and lengthy investigations to address it.” Vijay inverts this excuse: “Corruption exists because politics and babudom have created that very complexity to hide it. Erase that complexity, and it will become impossible for the corrupt to find places to hide. By making instant reformative decisions, visible corruption will become impossible.”

There is a problem with praising politicians. They are treated like gods until their inevitable fallibility becomes a joke. Hagiography: “This leader is a great

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says knowledge, gratitude and belongingness are antidotes to jealousy. Instead of comparing yourself with others, focus on your own growth and appreciate what you have. Others' success should inspire good karma, while their envy should be treated as temporary. A centred, joyful mind naturally rises above jealousy.

True happiness is not found in the pleasures and comforts of the outside world, but in discovering a deeper connection within. The journey towards lasting bliss begins with faith, a wider perspective...

One man's insult is another man's joke and vice versa. Today, punishing the “insult” using state machinery is par for the course. Someone has to name something as insulting—a song, a comedian's one-liner, a poster, a cartoon, a painting, a book, a slogan, a short skirt or a bare shouldered Rakhi dress, or a photograph of a pothole. A complaint by an unheard-of-person is filed and the police register an FIR. This raises a puzzling question: what exactly defines an “insult”? A song may be enjoyed by 10 million people but condemned by just a hundred; if that hundred is connected to power, they become the legal representation of “public sentiment”. Lo and behold the democracy of manufactured outrage: one person's feeling of offence acquires the force of an un-consulted million people's opinion without ever being put to vote.

Spiritual knowledge and dispassion bring stability to the wavering mind, helping sustain lasting happiness. Misery is not our true nature but only superficial; deep within lies joy and bliss. Wisdom teaches us to honour emotions, learn from life’s experiences and move forward. True education builds mental strength, equanimity and the courage to face sorrow and criticism with patience.