Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Board Games
The board game theory of life India is the birthplace of many modern board games Shoba Narayan First Published: Fri, Jan 25 2013. 06 51 PM IST A watercolour painting of Shiv and Parvati playing chaupar. It is a simple game involving five pebbles of medium size. We called it Anchangal (five stones), but it could well have been played with 10 or 11 stones. It took a little practice and there was scope for improvement. You started by throwing one pebble up in the air and picked up another pebble while it fell. Then you graduated to picking up [...]
The great bubbly paradox: how to choose Champagne: for Mint Lounge
A piece about my favorite beverage. I have been trying to write columns without using the letter "I" in it, as a kind of New Year resolution. This was very hard with this piece because my instinct was to begin the piece by saying, "I love champagne. I can drink it with lunch and at night." But I changed it to "What's not to love?" in the third person. The great bubbly paradox How to choose your champagne and savour it Shoba Narayan First Published: Fri, Jan 18 2013. 06 07 PM IST The Dom Pérignon Power of Creation event [...]
Selling on Gumroad
A friend told me about this website that allows writers to sell directly without middlemen. What this means is that if you buy my book for $10, I will get about $9 instead of the $5 or so that other sites give. So if you'd like to buy my book from Gumroad, please click on the link below and it will take you there. Return to India: a memoir
Gifting
A long time ago, my mother brought me some rasam. The scenario described below was acted out, except that I was the one talking about knee pain, and why make rasam. And my mother was the one saying those words. Similarly, years ago, my mother in law was insisting that I buy a sari in Nalli Silks, Chennai. Again, I was refusing like the son-in-law in the scene below. I think gift registrys take the joy out of giving. They sacrifice emotion for efficiency. Indian weddings don't have gift registrys but here too, we get the same one-horned rhino or [...]
RIP dear Light of our current lives
Very busy Sunday-- writing and rewriting this piece in between hospital visits-- don't ask. At first, I included her name in the article. As my editor said, what's the point of asking them to name a law after her if we can't mention her name. My husband read this piece pre-publication and suggested that it wasn't a good idea. So removed. A light leads the way forward from India's crisis of conscience Shoba Narayan Jan 7, 2013 What would Delhi's "braveheart" have wanted? This is a question that faces India in the aftermath of the brutal rape of a student on [...]
New Year Resolutions
January 3, 2013 New Year Resolutions: 1. To write a bit everyday on this page. 2. To develop self-control, particularly when it comes to the uncontrollable urge to scarf down potato chips at midnight. 3. To attempt humor-- carry over from last year's resolution 4. To be disciplined which includes walking for an hour everyday, doing 100 burpees, running barefoot in the park while pondering Kant's philosophy, and coming up with life-changing ideas and thoughts. 5. To develop realistic resolutions rather than ones such as the above which I have no hope of keeping.
Wearing a burqa
Stereotypes interests me. Perception too. What image do you have when you hear a person's voice? Or read their work? How does this match up to reality? It was a real delight to meet this young Radio Jockey and hear her candid views. In Mint. In search of a unique Islamic identity How the modern generation is reclaiming Muslim identity from conservative orthodoxy Shoba Narayan First Published: Thu, Dec 20 2012. 08 52 PM IST Sanobar Sultana, or RJ Sano, thinks modern and dresses orthodox. Photo: Saisen/Mint ALSO READ ‘Navras’ in an ikebana arrangement Excerpt | The ‘desi’ mutation Why [...]
Blogadda
Blogadda is a wonderful site. I dip into it to get a pulse on who's reading what. I have discovered some new writers through it. So when Shail commented here about this post, I had to link to it. Indians are drawn to addas and perhaps blogadda is our version of the Indian verandah or "thinnai".
All for art and art for all: Kochi Kerala get its first biennale: The National Abu Dhabi
How I wish I were in Kochi now! All for art and art for all: Kochi Kerala get its first biennale After months of excitement and controversy, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale will open tomorrow in Kochi, Kerala. Named after an ancient seaport and a renamed city (previously called Cochin), India's first biennale will begin with a performance by the English recording artist MIA (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam). The event will bring together 88 artists from 24 countries, 1,300 performers, as well as art historians and curators, according to the organisers. Several acclaimed artists have created site-specific work, including India's Sudarshan Shetty, [...]
Teaching moments– parenting
This one is for Cheeni and Rooney and all the new puppies who elevate our lives Be your own person - as long as you do what I tell you Shoba Narayan Dec 11, 2012 notebook The other day, my 10-year-old daughter asked me a strange question: "What is the hardest thing that has happened to you?" Aha, I thought, a teachable moment. My mind raced as I thought of the many things that I wanted to teach my child. Like a politician who gives the same sound bite no matter what question is asked, I decided to [...]