“A joker is a little fool who is different from everyone else. He’s not a club, diamond, heart, or spade. He’s not an eight or a nine, a king or a jack. He is an outsider. He is placed in the same pack as the other cards, but he doesn’t belong there. Therefore, he can…
The Book Lovers Paradise
As I roamed through the isles of this immensely stocked up bookstore in Bangalore, a song kept playing in my mind when I saw this scene. This old haunting Hindi number, from the 1958 classic Howrah Bridge. The first two lines of the song are… Aaiye meharabaan, baithhie jaanejaan (Come in, oh generous one, please…
Food Mania
Food is a great leveler. It’s a warehouse of memories and can offer comfort like few other things. Whenever I feel intensely homesick, my tongue yearns for familiar flavors that remind me of my childhood and my hometown. But this one trip in Hyderabad with close friends was a discovery in itself. After devouring…
Black Noise
Silence is a rare commodity in our fast-paced lifestyle. But seek and you will find your moments of solace. The Hussain Sagar lake that divides the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secundrabad is anything but clean and quiet. It is popularly called the ‘Heart of the World’ by United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), as…
Another Journey Around The Sun Begins, Again
A lot of people I know love train journeys. I am one of them, but only if I get to lie flat on my back, when I get inside one. I’ve spent most of my adult life commuting in and around Bombay, and for me local trains were a forced adventure. Many people endure…
Look And Leap
For a really long time, I found myself in a limbo. I was nowhere close the person I planned to be when I was young. Yet, I like what I’ve become—the blood, the sweat, the tears, the bruises and wounds, I wear them with humility. It’s really easy to yearn to be something we’re not,…
Go On, Light A Bulb
Swades is and will remain one of the most finest patriotic movies I have ever seen. A few years ago, I wrote about this children’s book (This India, Sheila Dhar) that I managed to get my hands on eventually. It changed my perception of being Indian, just like this movie did. This movie has no…
Overcome Evil With Good
Noted as one of the oldest dance forms, Kathakali is an integral part of the Hindu culture in Kerala. Katha means story and Kali is drama in Malayalam. Based on the vedas, the performance brings the Samaveda (lyrical form of the vedas) to life. The intricate facial paint is non-toxic and made using…
Unnatural India
Shifting bases from one part of the country to another in a diverse country like India is no less than moving countries. People are way too different, and at times, the cultural shocks are too much to digest. When I first moved cities across the same political state, I realized that although we are all…
Bugged For Life
We all live in an insane amount of stress, a first world problem. We are so consumed with balance, that we lose the essence of when to stop prioritizing. Work life balance is a new fad that consumes us more than it puts us at ease. From a race to win, the marathon turns into…
Snapshots of my World 