Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Profile of Vinita Bali for Silkroad, Dragonair/Cathay Pacific
A Profile of Vinita Bali-- we eat her Brittania Ragi biscuits at home these days.
Jeweller Hanut Singh: The National Abu Dhabi
About Jeweller Hanut Singh whose grandmother Sita Devi was a style icon
India– Cultural Immersion
Professor Ravi Bapna's class from the Carlson School of Management's Executive MBA program visited India. I spent one morning-- three hours from 9-12-- doing a 'cultural immersion' class. We discussed history, customs, culture, music, dance (with a performance at the end), and had a great interactive session. They asked tough questions about all the things that stare us in the face: the filth, the beggars, the slums, the traffic. But what surprised me was that they seemed to intuitively 'get' the contradictions that make up this crazy country of ours. Why do people seem so content amidst such poverty-- that [...]
Right to Education
For Mint here
Cultural Immersion
I am doing a class/presentation/module on cultural immersion for a visiting Executive MBA class from the U.S. Basically, I am trying to un-package India for them and it is a fascinating exercise. What do you focus on? Values, food, music, bargaining? There are many good books on Indian culture including A.L. Basham and India Unveiled. Been reading a lot. Have about ten slide presentations and will probably show them about five in the three hours that I have. Also doing interactive stuff.
New Book: Return to India
I am working on Book Number 2, which will hopefully be out later this summer. It is a memoir called, "Return to India." It will be published by Rain Tree (how I love that name), which Rupa calls "its new premium hardcover imprint" here You can view my title in the Raintree catalogue here The reason I put up this post was a note from a friend-- okay, my husband-- this morning that said, "Good timing of the book." He was responding to an article in the New York Times about immigrants. I can say it here because hardly anyone [...]
Research and Reality
Posted: Fri, Apr 13 2012. 7:51 PM IST Where research ends and reality begins Detachment is an interesting idea. How do you stop yourself from forming bonds of attachment with the people you report on for years? Can you? The Good Life | Shoba Narayan Share on facebookShare on digg In her magnificently reported and lyrically written book, Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars, Sonia Faleiro describes a poignant scene when the heroine, Leela, goes to visit a fellow bar dancer and sex worker, Ameena, in her chawl. Seeking closure: Photographer Steve McCurry’s iconic picture of the Afghan [...]
Khadi: The Freedom Fabric makes a comeback: for The National Abu Dhabi
Khadi 'Freedom fabric' makes a comeback in India At the recent high-profile wedding of the Bollywood stars Genelia D'Souza and Ritish Deshmukh, two outfits that stood out were not made of high-end fabric or Swarovski crystal, but khadi, the Indian handspun and hand-woven cloth, made from cotton, described as "freedom fabric" and popularised by Mahatma Gandhi. The Bollywood stars Kangana Ranaut and Arpita Khan dazzled the paparazzi with their long skirts made of block-printed khadi. Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who designed both skirts, is part of a growing number of fashion designers who are helping revive this handspun fabric with its hoary [...]
Sherbets: drinks of an Indian childhood for Mint Lounge
This coming Saturday is Mint Lounge's Summer Special issue. I wrote a column on cooling summer drinks, which, I discovered is already up on the site. So am posting it here. Columns Posted: Thu, Apr 5 2012. 8:12 PM IST The cooling draught There is no better summer drink that the traditional Indian sherbet from your childhood The Good Life | Shoba Narayan When my Chinese room-mate got acne on her face, she ate a porridge made of green mung beans. Soaked mung beans are considered cooling foods in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). They support the yin earth and disperse yang heat. Indian Ayurveda, [...]
Music and Art for Mint Lounge
Tuning in to change 5 min read . Updated: 30 Mar 2012, 09:17 PM IST The Good Life | Shoba Narayan Artist Sudarshan Shetty and I are sitting on the steps of the Pushya Mahal ghat in Thiruvaiyaru town and chatting. The river Cauvery, so resonant to us south Indians, is flowing in front of us. Flowing is an overstatement. There are islands of sand in between large puddles of water. This discernment has percolated down to Srinivasan. I first met her in New York over 10 years ago. She came for [...]