Reviews and Articles
Hindustan Times: Cheese & Bread in Bangalore
Today, oddly enough, happens to be World Malbec Day, an entirely manufactured celebration, brazenly marketed as a “world” event, when in fact, it was created by Argentina to promote their Malbec grape. Heck, it worked.
Hindustan Times: AI & Studio Ghibli
This post is about AI copying art from Studio Ghibli and also the season of outdoor concerts in Bangalore-- particularly the Ramaseva Mandali ones in Chamarajpet.
Hindustan Times: Water and Food pop-ups
Bangalore has always been a city where citizens want to participate in the city’s improvement only to be rebuffed by the government.
Hindustan Times: Ambition & Adaptation
Politician Tejaswi Surya married Carnatic singer Sivasri Skandaprasad earlier this month with great fanfare and predictably some controversy. All of which led me to wonder about ambition and adaptation. Ambition requires nimbleness and adaptation.
Hindustan Times: Inclusion
How did the MacArthur Foundation with an annual budget of about $160 million, a staff of around 250 people and a jury of about a dozen become so spectacularly inclusive not just in terms of gender parity but also in every other domain? The answer is both obvious and very hard to achieve: by acknowledging their bias, and actively seeking to overcome it.
Hindustan Times: Show your love
An uncle passed away. At his funeral and subsequent days, I witnessed an outpouring of love and from his family, relatives, people he mentored and neighbours. All of which led me to wonder about the age-old question: what will your obituary say? What will people say about you after you are gone? What will they speak about at your memorial service? Which is another way of asking: who are you and what do you project to the world?
Hindustan Times: Secret Bangalore
To write this, I asked a few old and new Bangaloreans for suggestions of where to go and what to do. Here below is a list of “Secret Bangalore” suggestions, in honour of India’s 75th Republic Day. They include chaats to masalas to juices. Thank you Sowmya Nandan, Naresh Narasimhan, Vishal Nagpal and Jay Bhow.
Hindustan Times: Self-care
How to help your diabetes. How to help with your body pains. How to figure out your posture and gait. I talk to three Bangalore experts on these topics. Small things you can do.
Hindustan Times: Buying happiness
This column got me thinking about happiness and whether it was possible to access it for cheap – specifically for under Rs.100. So here are some things that I have tried.
Hindustan Times: Best Pizza in Bangalore
The best pizza I have eaten in Bangalore is at my friend, Jay Bhow’s house. So when Jay, a VPN certified pizzaiolo, wondered if Bangalore was the artisanal pizza capital of India, we decided to go on a pizza crawl to find out.
Hindustan Times: Bangalore Hubba
Open the BLR Hubba homepage (https://blrhubba.in/) and I guarantee that you are going to get overwhelmed by the number of things on offer. Currently in its second edition with a budget of Rs. 8 crores, the Hubba runs from November 30 to December 14 at different venues across Bangalore.
Hindustan Times: Theatre in Bengaluru
Karnataka, like every other Indian state also has a robust night life beyond the pubs nightclubs which includes theatre, music performances, and processions, all of which are linked to religious institutions.
Hindustan Times: Gin and Smell
Smell or olfaction is among the most ancient of our senses. In order to smell better, it seems obvious that you have to practice smelling. Children do this. We are surrounded by smells but have stopped paying attention to them.
Hindustan Times: Science in the City
Here is a fairly stunning statistic, to use the tempered language of science. In the 2023 Nature Index of the top science cities globally, only one Indian city made it to the top 100. Guess which one? Bengaluru.
Hindustan Times: Artists in Bangalore
Even though I have lived in Bangalore for nearly 20 years, there are certain parts of the city that are inaccessible to me, mostly because I did not grow up here.
Hindustan Times: Beyond ayurvedic spas
Ultimately, it comes down to the smell of the towels, I said when a Bengaluru visitor asked why I had not given a spa guide to the city in this column. After all, I had written about everything else. This is odd because you see, I am that cliché. I am a spa junkie.
Hindustan Times: Is kaali-dal the McDonalds of North Indian food?
To me, the next bastion of North Indian food is to look to the light flavours of U.P vegetarian food
Hindustan Times: The good life as per Indic thought
Is there an Indic approach to leading a good life? Not Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics which is the western notion of a good life.
BIC program on Namma Bangalore
An event that happened at the Bangalore International Centre about my book, Namma Bangalore. This event is over but you can see it in the Youtube video in this post.
Radio Indigo features Namma Bangalore
Radio Indigo on Namma Bangalore
Red FM Radio on Namma Bangalore
In which RJ Tuhin interviews me.
Hindustan Times: Spectacular Street Fairs
Karnataka, like many Indian states has over 1000 village fairs that take place throughout the year. Most are linked to season or festivals. Bangalore is a miniature in this area and has a whole host of fairs that happen within the city. This piece is about the spectacular street fairs.
Namma Bangalore in FT
About Bangalore in FT. And I am quoted in it.
Namma Bangalore: Rubi Chakravarty’s take
Here is a take on the launch at The Oberoi Bengaluru from self-described "funny girl" Rubi Chakravarti.
Deccan Herald on Namma Bangalore at the Bangalore Literature Festival
Where I spoke about the Kannada language and how it shaped my experience of Bangalore.
HT Media on Namma Bangalore at the Bangalore Literature Festival
Where I spoke about belonging and what Bangalore meant to me.
Hindustan Times: tribal goddesses
A long time ago, my friend Gauri Acharya took me to see a fire-walking ceremony. I have never forgotten it and this post is based on that experience. Check out the photos
Enchanted by Namma Bangalore
As A Proud Bangalorean, I Was Enchanted By ‘Namma Bangalore’ In the bustling heart of Bangalore, where the traffic hums and the markets [...]
Indian Express wrote about Namma Bangalore
Namma Bangalore book launch at The Park hotel Bengaluru
Hindustan Times: Kannada characters in Bollywood
When I saw Rocky Rani…Kahani, the thought occurred: when will a Kannadiga character populate a mainstream Bollywood movie?
Review of Namma Bangalore
An insightful and informative review of Namma Bangalore by my friend, S. R. Madhu
South First on Namma Bangalore
The Bookworm on Church Street launched Namma Bangalore. Social change communicator, Sahana Jose was in conversation with me.
Hindustan Times: about Inclusion
Called “Shefs of the Leela,” it showcased some high-quality women chefs over a sit-down dinner and a bespoke performance by Natya Stem Dance Kampni