From mobile screens to bedrooms, from commerce to politics: what exactly is s*x: pleasure, power, obsession, or civilisation's biggest fixation?

Smarmore Castle, an addiction treatment centre in County Louth, is warning that gambling addiction remains one of the most underestimated and least visible forms of addiction, often going undetected until significant personal, financial and psychological harm has already occurred.

Those were the days. The moment summer vacations began, a child's world transformed. Some rushed off to their grandmother's house; others to a village where grandparents waited with open arms. There were mango orchards to climb, hills to explore, ponds to splash in, and endless afternoons spent reading comics under a fan that groaned in the heat.

The whistle of a speeding train cuts through the evening air. Four boys stand smiling beside a railway track, their mobile phones held high. One stretches his arm a little further for the “perfect selfie”. They laugh. They pose. They want one dramatic picture for social media. A second later, the train crushes them. Their final photograph never gets uploaded.

In our beautiful country, elections arrive like weddings, cricket finals, and mythological serials rolled into one giant circus. Loudspeakers scream. Helicopters rain petals. Anchors lose their voices. And politicians distribute promises like halwa-poori at a bhandara. For tourists, India offers the grand spectacle called ‘The Great Jumla Olympics’.

Those were the days! As the fierce North Indian sun finally slipped away, painting the sky in soft purple, something beautiful happened in every home. The day’s heat began to fade, and the real heart of the house moved upstairs, to the chhat, the terrace.