WHILE DISCUSSING HOW VARIOUS PEOPLE receive messages differently, the Bible uses a farming analogy—about seeds that fell in different places. Some seeds fell on hard ground, some among thorns, some by the wayside and some on fertile ground. I felt that the analogy fits well with what happened after a team from The Art of Living visited the Malayala Manorama’s office in Kochi to train staff in asanas tailored for those employed in sedentary or stressful work.
In the initial weeks, quite a few people would practise what was taught. Slowly, the number dwindled. Much after the team left, I would find one or two rare souls who continued the practice. While I want to call them the seeds that fell on good ground, I know the demands that modern life makes on all of us. Perhaps I am wrong, and others might be practising at home.
The asana that survived the longest in office was Bhastrika Pranayama, in which the practitioner reaches for the skies with both hands and then balls the fists before pulling the arms down to shoulder height. Simultaneously, there is the breath-control exercise in which the practitioner must exhale and inhale like a blacksmith’s bellows. Bhastrika literally means bellows.
All these thoughts and more came to mind when I read this week’s cover story by Chief Subeditor Anirudha Karindalam. He interviewed Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bengaluru, accompanied by Photo Editor Bhanu Prakash Chandra. The cover celebrates The Art of Living’s 45th anniversary and Gurudev’s 70th birthday on May 13. Anirudha has also spoken to Basma Aldakhi, a Yazidi woman who survived attacks by Islamic State and found peace in The Art of Living.
While the cover is on peace, Senior Assistant Editor Sanjib Kr Baruah marks the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor and analyses the doctrinal shift it triggered. And, Senior Assistant News Editor Ajish P. Joy wanders a little further from home to argue how the Iran war has triggered an unregulated nuclear competition.
In Untold Stories, Special Correspondent K. Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy brings to life the story of Prof Machavarapu Adinarayana, 70, who remained single to explore the world. The scholar-gypsy travelled to the UK, looking for the tomb of George Henry Borrow, a Cambridge scholar who became a gypsy out of love for the lifestyle.
The desk here tells me that the Welsh author W.H. Davies, too, became a hobo out of choice and travelled across the US and the UK. The choice of name for his memoir reflects this love: The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp.
THE WEEK hosted a Salon in Mumbai last week, where journalist Priyanka R. Khanna was in conversation with Karan Johar. Principal Correspondent Pooja Biraia’s take on the evening makes for an interesting read.
Another lovely article is in @leisure, Bhanu’s photo essay on the kawandi quilts woven by the Siddi community in Karnataka. Using scraps of used cloth, backed by an old sari, the Siddi women weave this unique quilt. As the scraps are different in each house, no quilt ever resembles another.
In December 2025, THE WEEK commissioned 10 kawandi quilts, and the results are there for you to see from Page 62.