Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
The dramatic and soulful orchestra men: for Mint Lounge
Listen to Mendelssohn while you read this piece The dramatic and soulful orchestra men What exactly does an orchestra conductor do with his eyes closed? Shoba Narayan First Published: Thu, Sep 27 2012. 06 00 PM IST The Symphony Orchestra of India’s last show of the season is on Sunday. If you are lucky enough to live in Mumbai, I hope you can catch the performance. They are performing a concert of orchestral operatic favourites which—although not a personal favourite—is sure to be good. Opera is hard for listeners steeped in Indian classical music, mostly because the singing sounds [...]
Vegetarian McDonalds
In land of the holy cow, not even the fast food is sacred Shoba Narayan Sep 24, 2012 McDonalds, the fast-food chain, is making plans to open an all-vegetarian outlet in the foothills of the Himalayas. The outlet will cater to Hindu pilgrims visiting the shrine of Vaishno Devi, a powerful female goddess. Plans are also afoot to open another all-vegetarian McDonald’s outlet near the Golden Temple of Amritsar, hallowed ground for the Sikh community. Nor is the king of fast food alone in going veggie in India. Subway has two all-vegetarian outlets – one in Delhi and another [...]
Stanley Pinto
In Journalism-school, one of the things they drill into you is the difference between a private person and public figure. A private person is given all kinds of allowances when it comes to writing a piece. A public figure, less so. You handle a private person (the average Joe Bloe) with kid-gloves because the assumption is that they aren't used to dealing with the press. You run their quotes by them; you make sure that they understand the context in which they are being used and so forth. Public figures don't merit as much hand-holding. Sometimes thought, the lines between [...]
Cartoons
The problem with Aseem Trivedi’s cartoons The problem with today’s cartoons and Trivedi’s in particular is that cartoons have lost their sense of humour Shoba Narayan First Published: Thu, Sep 20 2012. 05 05 PM IST Aseem Trivedi after being arrested by the police in Mumbai. Photo: AP. RELATED Updated: Thu, Sep 20 2012. 06 47 PM IST First Published: Thu, Sep 20 2012. 05 05 PM IST Aseem Trivedi after being arrested by the police in Mumbai. Photo: AP. Updated: Thu, Sep 20 2012. 06 47 PM IST Truth be told, I didn’t find Aseem Trivedi’s cartoons all that good. Like [...]
Dance and healing: Akram Khan for The National Abu Dhabi
Dance is important for audiences to experience healing, says Akram Khan Shoba Narayan Sep 17, 2012 Creating a dance performance for the Olympics was "humbling and challenging because I had to touch people - you can't do that with superficial pieces", says the British-Bangladeshi dancer Akram Khan, who choreographed a prominent section of the London Olympics opening ceremony. Khan is in India on a six-city tour as part of The Park's New Festival 2012, for which he and his company performed Gnosis, based on the Indian epicMahabharata, in which Queen Gandhari blindfolds her eyes to imitate her blind husband. The stunning [...]
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
I like music I can hum to. I first heard this piece in Boston and have been humming it ever since. It is Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and to my mind, one of the most beautiful works of music...ever. Listening to something like this and the chords it touches inside your heart and soul makes the wordsmith in me despair. How can mere words touch the soul like the way this music can? The opening piercing strains of the solo violin can make you weep, if you are open to it. So many soloists have attempted it, but here is a current [...]
It’s never too late to get your hands on wet clay: for Mint Lounge
I loved writing this piece because I love clay and pots and ceramic arts It’s never too late to get your hands on wet clay Working with your hands in wet clay is a sensual experience Shoba Narayan First Published: Fri, Sep 14 2012. 07 14 PM IST An artist at Pottery Town, where 45 families make a living out of clay. Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint RELATED Excerpt | The ‘desi’ mutation Mastering the art of giving Mastering the art of giving In the words of the daughter-in-law Clad in a blue housecoat—what else—Nethra, the artist, is painting a 2ft-tall clay [...]
Times of India coverage
In the September 10th issue 2012
Deccan Chronicle: about the launch
Story and photo on 9th September 2012
Are Foundations neccessary?
Mastering the art of giving The hundi model - or writing significant cheques in an ad hoc and anonymous fashion - is the worst way to donate your money Shoba Narayan Posted: Thu, Sep 6 2012. 8:47 PM IST I blame it on the hundi; and the Bible. “But when thou doest alms,” says the Bible in Matthew 6:3, “let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” This was before the Indian Revenue Service invented the 80G tax exemption; incentivising donors not just to give with both hands but also announce the size of their [...]