my timeline is overcrowded with ‘friends’ changing their profile pictures – from one of themselves looking hip to ones with their mother and if they’ve had a child, it’s one of themselves with their child. phew… mother’s day is back. this is not to say that i am a celebrator of ‘days’. birthdays and anniversaries make the cut for me. birthdays and anniversaries mark a huge moment in my life, a … Continue reading on mother’s day and “the unmothered”
roald dahl’s book “someone like you” is hardly like him! i’ve grown up on a steady fare of matilda, boys, james and the giant peach and willy wonka- and this book was a surprise. let me be honest here – it was so much of a surprise that the first time i started it… i abandoned it. it was so NOT dahl. but then we readers think it’s … Continue reading book review: roald dahl’s someone like you
this piece recently appeared at thealternative.in. i don’t know how many of you subscribe to your facebook page so thought might make sense to paste it here too. let me know what you think. catch the original piece here: the pyaus of an erstwhile bombay. (yes, not everyone appreciates or understands my love for the democracy of smallcase.. so i listen. caps it is) The … Continue reading The pyaus of an erstwhile Bombay
you live in maharashtra and are searching for that ‘lovely’ hill station to escape the heat. (a modern myth – there is no brilliant hill station close by) lonavala is hardly a hill station anymore. it’s definitely not cooler in temperature. matheran – you’ve been there, love it. but it’s too dusty to go in the summers; you need to wait for the rains… you are left … Continue reading panchgani & mahableshwar can also be fun
Do you have that big secret you are really embarrassed about? And you try to avoid all sorts of conversations about it? Well here is mine. I cannot SWIM. I am 32 and in a month’s time will add 1 more year to that figure. Swimming is a life-skill they say. It’s compulsory in some countries for children to learn swimming before they leave primary school, … Continue reading swimming and me: lesson 1
i would like to pack my bag, not have to work and travel all my life. wouldn’t you too? BUT (and there is always a but in most dreams) there are bills to be paid, EMIs to be deducted, restaurants to eat at and tonnes of books i must-must own. so we stay put, dig in our heels, settle into this city, feel jealous of RTW travellers and look forward … Continue reading confessions of a serial traveller
this was the first time i have consciously seen lavender flowers (and i think these are lavender flowers). i saw them from a distance and went running saying, ‘lavender, lavender…’ so if these aren’t lavender flowers please don’t tell me so, i’m oblivious-ly happy. (pun completely and totally intended; i thought through it – i wonder why people say unintended!) i have heard about those beautiful … Continue reading lavender flowers and whispers
the first few pages are an index of words, pronunciations and meanings. i was confused. what did that mean? did i need to remember it all while i went through the book? the page after that has this family tree and that seemed to add to the confusion. i remember reading those initial few pages and while i feel a certain tie to all people of coloured … Continue reading book review: ‘ghana must go’ by taiye selasi
graffiti that always catches my attention and keeps me revetted. i don’t know if this happens to you, but once i see one piece of graffiti or street art in a city, i start searching all the walls almost frantically. because if there is one piece, there are always more! i scanned the walls as i made my way from rome to venice years ago, i searched the walls to find graffiti in varanasi, visited … Continue reading walking the streets of kochi – the street art
i have to admit it, i cannot lie. i visited chennai every summer when i was in school and recently lived there for two whole years but i didn’t know all these things about chennai. when i visited last week, i decided to act like a tourist and comb the streets for facts, fiction and stories that quenched my thirst. and wow, what a find! i dare you, … Continue reading 6 things YOU didn’t know about Chennai & Madras
merry to go around 