by Mohinder Singh

What is the survival value of the involuntary simultaneous contraction of fifteen facial muscles associated with certain noises which are often irrepressible? Laughter is a reflex, but unique in that it serves no apparent biological purpose; one might call it a luxury reflex. — Arthur Koestler

LAUGHTER — involuntary noisemaking to Koestler, and "the most civilised music" to Peter Ustinov — is essentially a form of communication. We laugh many times a day, for many different reasons, but we rarely think about it, and seldom consciously control it.

Make a place for your child at home
Niti Paul Mehta
"EVERY HOME", said Mahatma Gandhi, "is a university and the parents are its teachers." Mahatma Gandhi was obviously referring to the parents’ role in the upbringing and education of the child. The family exercises great influence on the growth and development of the child.

When the Administration demolishes common sense
Kuljit Bains
EVERY few months a municipal corporation wakes up to the slum problem and sets out to solve it. It gathers a few bulldozers, babus and cops, and the "right" legal documents and pushes the machines through loosely stacked bricks that constitute walls, ragged beddings, a few tins of flour, tarpaulin and little else.

Now is the time to choose the right path
Ginjinder K. Bindra
THE present times are seeing a downfall in the moral values of society leading to frustration, gloom, corruption and poverty. No aspect of society—social, economic, political or religious— has escaped the all-round degradation.

For him, life is all about sensitive relationships
Aditi Tandon
MORE than the musical legacy of Kishore Kumar, Amit Kumar has inherited the emotional tangles left behind by his father. After witnessing the separation of his mother Ruma Guha from Kishore Kumar when he was just three years old, Amit was a witness to many a romantic escapade of his father — from Madhubala and Yogita Bali to Leena Chandravarkar.