Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
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 [...]
Food- North Indian versus South Indian for Silkroad, Dragonair/Cathay Pacific’s inflight magazine
This appeared in Silkroad magazine's Feb 2012 issue North Versus South Indian Food
About Vishnu for the Yoga Journal
About Vishnu in the Yoga Journal Super Man Vishnu lives in luxury, but this Hindu god will abandon his opulent ways to take human form and save the world from evil. By Shoba Narayan In Indian films known as "god movies," Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi, the pale-skinned goddess of wealth, are shown living in absurdly luxurious surroundings, wearing golden crowns, glittering jewelry, and silky robes, and surrounded by clouds of fragrant incense. But Vishnu is known as the preserver of the good, and in keeping with that role, he repeatedly assumes human form and goes forth to rid the [...]
Parvati Power: for Yoga Journal
Yoga Journal Parvati Power This Hindu goddess, consort of Shiva, proves that dignity and smarts prevail. By Shoba Narayan Parvati is one face of the divine female energy, often called Devi (the shining one) or Shakti (power), that many Indians worship as the power above all deities. The goddess is personified in many forms, including Saraswati, goddess of learning and consort of Brahma, and Lakshmi, goddess of fortune and consort of Vishnu. Parvati came into being when a female demon was terrorizing the world, smug in the knowledge that only a son of Shiva could kill her. But Shiva had [...]
About female goddesses for the Yoga Journal
Thanks, Nora Isaacs, for sending me these links in the Yoga Journal. Wrote these pieces a long time ago. Didn't know they existed. Quite Contrary Kali is both a fierce warrior and a compassionate mother goddess, reflecting the range of behavior available to us all. By Shoba Narayan Many of the female deities in Hindu mythology are powerful and full of contradictions. The goddesses Kali and Durga are perfect examples of this: They mix fierce destructive power with maternal protectiveness. Durga, often shown riding a tiger, is one of the names given to the consort of Shiva. When one of [...]