The Gurdwara: Recovering the Original Vision
Walk into any Gurdwara in the world today, and the experience is broadly the same. You remove your shoes, cover your head, and enter a hall where the Guru Granth Sahib rests under a canopy. Kirtan fills the room. Eventually you make your way to the Langar hall, sit on the floor alongside strangers, and…
Does the American Healthcare System Work for Americans?
What the numbers show, what ordinary families run into, and how the insurance game actually works Ask most Americans whether their healthcare system is working, and the answer usually depends on whether they’ve had to use it lately. Looking at the numbers instead, the answer is clearer: the United States spends far more on healthcare…
One Cycle, Many Voices
There’s a moment that tends to arrive for anyone who watches the natural world closely enough. A bird eats an insect. A larger fish eats a smaller one. A lion takes down a deer. The deer fed on grass. The grass fed on a fallen leaf, on decomposed matter, on something that was once alive…
Why Your Body Will Thank You after the hug
I am a hugger. But I want to be honest with you — it was not always this way. There was a time when I kept my arms closer to my sides. When a handshake felt like plenty, and a hug felt like too much to offer or too much to ask. I was not…
Sangat, The Power of Association
Sangat is a word rooted in Punjabi, Hindi, and Sanskrit-influenced traditions. It means company, association, or spiritual fellowship — the people you spend time with and the communities you move within. In a modern sense, sangat extends beyond physical presence. What you read, watch, and listen to becomes a form of association. Whatever repeatedly occupies…
Different Varieties, One Garden
Stand in a garden long enough, and you begin to feel peace without quite knowing why. Nature never repeats itself — and yet, somehow, everything belongs. A beautiful garden is never made of a single flower. Imagine walking through rows where every plant is identical — the same color, the same height, the same…
Nature moves on, and so should We
Nature’s truth: disruption is not the end No forest grows without fire. No coastline forms without storms. Nature’s most breathtaking landscapes — the Grand Canyon, the Norwegian fjords, the Great Barrier Reef — exist precisely because something violent and difficult happened there first. The disruption was not a detour from the story. It was the…
Ak’ Tenamit: A Special Place in Guatemala
One of my running mates, Jeannette Legge, had been speaking about her visits to Guatemala for the past few years. There was always a quiet joy in her voice and a sparkle in her eyes when she described the work being done there—something deeper than enthusiasm, something rooted. During and after our long runs, I…
Reflection on the Fifth Anniversary
Some dates quietly divide life into a “before” and an “after.” For me, February 28, 1994, was the beginning of a story that changed everything. I met her that evening at her uncle’s home in Delhi’s Defence Colony. After the introductions, we drifted into another room and began talking — a conversation that lasted an…
Beneath the Tree: A Meditation on Life’s Quiet Design
Look at the image and pause for a moment. Imagine yourself settling onto the earth beneath a heavy, fruit-laden canopy. The soil is cool and slightly damp against your feet. The shade drapes over you like a soft veil. A sun-warmed piece of fruit rests in your hand, its skin yielding, its scent sweet and…
