Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
About Moynat for Financial Times weekend
I love niche products that nobody has heard of. Moynat fits the bill. It retails only in Paris for now, and very few people have heard of this brand. Below is a piece I wrote about Moynat for Financial Times which ran during Paris Fashion Week. Moynat for FT: this is the edited version on the site. Scroll down to the Leather Goods section.
Radio New Zealand
I don't know how they found me but I am now an overseas correspondent for a Radio show in New Zealand. Below is the date of live broadcasts. If anyone is in New Zealand, check them out. From: Nights Subject: RNZ NIGHTS - 2012 OVERSEAS CORRESPONDENTS roster... Tuesday 8:40pm [NZT] Kia Ora koutou Neil, Terri, Liat, Daniel, Rebecca, Kerri, Susana and Motoko and welcome to the NIGHTS team, Tamara, Ewan, Brendan, Shoba and Nida'. First, thanks again for being our overseas correspondents. Bryan and I are thrilled to again be a part of an enthralling year of discussions and insights [...]
About Ashwin Mahesh
Columnist Posted: Thu, Mar 15 2012. 7:12 PM IST Does Bangalore’s Good Man stand a chance? Being a good citizen is something that we urban elite think about and struggle with. How do you become a good citizen? What are your rights and responsibilities? The Good Life | Shoba Narayan How does a bystander become a stakeholder? That’s what this column is about. Some time ago, I got an email from a woman who lives in my building. Tara was supporting a Lok Satta party candidate, who is contesting the Bangalore Graduates Constituency in the Karnataka legislative council (MLC) elections [...]
Indian design objects
Columns Posted: Fri, Mar 9 2012. 9:42 PM IST Design begins in your kitchen and your closet The decorative traditions of India took pleasure in crafting objects for everyday use that were quite beautiful The Good Life | Shoba Narayan When people talk about India’s design aesthetic, they most often reach for the past. The decorative traditions of India took pleasure in crafting objects for everyday use that were quite beautiful. Is there an Indian design aesthetic? What are some objects of everyday use that exemplify this aesthetic? Here is my incomplete list of things I believe are beautiful and [...]
Women and careers: why women don’t seize power: for Mint Lounge
Like any writer, I enjoy comments about my pieces even if it takes me a while to get to them. Criticism is healthy and occasionally hurts, but hey, if you cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Or in my case, out of the writing game. What irritates me about the comments below is not the hate-mail bit but the fact that people didn't "get" that I am a flagrant feminist. Columns Posted: Fri, Mar 2 2012. 9:28 PM IST What is Priyanka Gandhi afraid of? Why doesn’t Priyanka Gandhi reach for the national office that could be [...]
My Life: Writing
My life: Shoba Narayan on being born to write Shoba Narayan Feb 29, 2012 My mother doesn't read my articles but she thinks I am a terrific writer. Out of this seeming paradox springs my attitude and approach towards writing. ■ My Life: Shoba Narayan on rice ■ My Life: Shoba Narayan on her long-lasting marriage It is not that my mum doesn't want to read my work. It is just that, although she knows English, she is far more comfortable in our native tongue, Tamil. We converse in Tamil. She speaks poetically, using similes and metaphors that are uncommon in English [...]
Hindu Festival of Sacred Music for The National Abu Dhabi
Hindu Festival of Sacred Music starts this weekend Shoba Narayan Feb 29, 2012 South Indian or Carnatic music has a hoary history that dates back to the Vedas, ancient Sanskrit works that form the foundation of the Hindu religion. This music flowered in the 18th century around the temple towns of Tamil Nadu when three composers - Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastry - created hundreds of songs in praise of Hindu deities. The devout Thyagaraja, arguably the most famous of the three, composed thousands of songs in praise of Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic, Ramayana. Most [...]
Nostalgia and Nielsen at the Oscars for Mint Lounge
Nostalgia and Nielsen at the Oscars Columns Posted: Fri, Feb 24 2012. 9:19 PM IST Meryl Streep is going to win, of course, for The Iron Lady. Then again, giving Streep an Oscar is like awarding Albert Einstein a Nobel; or calling Sachin Tendulkar the greatest Indian cricket player. It’s a safe choice; a win-win situation that makes both the recipient and the jury look good. I didn’t think much of her high-pitched voice by the way. It was too similar to her Julia Child portrayal in Julie & Julia. But the Academy loves English accents, witness last year’s Oscars for The King’s [...]
Feedback
I welcome your feedback. What can I do to improve the class? Please post your thoughts below if you wish. Thanks very much and it was wonderful getting to know you all. Please stay in touch. Shoba
Parenting dilemmas
This piece is heartfelt. The problem is that I don't see any solution to this. Sometimes, parenting seems like a crapshoot-- you make certain decisions and hope they work out. My elder daughter still hasn't asked for a dog! Did we make the wrong call? Here it is at The National's site and pasted below. Smart choices or luck? Good parenting demands both Shoba Narayan Feb 21, 2012 Save this article On the day our much-adored but very sick Labrador died, we pulled my teenage daughter out of school. Our dog, Ginger, had suffered a chronic kidney failure and had [...]