Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Hotel Business
In the hotel business, bigger isn't always better Shoba Narayan (Writer) Jan 27, 2010 Mohammed is afraid of losing his job. I met the middle-aged man from Kerala in Bahrain's transit lounge. Emboldened by my few words of Malayalam, and since we would never see each other again, he told me his story. A housekeeping supervisor at a hotel on Yas Island, he can see the writing on the wall: "Too many empty rooms, even during high season, too many new hotels. It's going to bite all of us." Thanks to the many hotels built ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix, room [...]
Losing weight without exercise
Want to lose weight without the pain? Try a little instability Shoba Narayan (Writer) Mar 3, 2010 It is a truth universally acknowledged that every single human in possession of good fortune still must be in want of a better body. They want to be toned, curvy, thin, voluptuous, have six-pack abs, the list goes on and on. Few are content with their shape and those who are tend to be geriatrics. Mostly, people want to be thin. Even Michelle Obama has got on the bandwagon by calling obesity an American national epidemic. I want to lose weight too. Except that [...]
Reinventing last year’s fashion: upcycling, recycling: for The National Abu Dhabi
Altered notions: recycling last year's fashions Shoba Narayan (Writer) Mar 22, 2010 next previous It is a problem that afflicts every fashion designer: what to do with last season's clothes that didn't sell? In India, unlike the US or Europe, there are no luxury consignment stores or outlet malls where designer "seconds" can be sold at discount. Instead, says the designer Joe Ikareth, the "dead stock" would just lie in boxes in warehouses because "the label was too precious to just give clothes away". So he began thinking about ways around this - ways of reinventing and recycling last season's [...]
MF Hussain: India shamed as its greatest painter is driven abroad: The National Abu Dhabi
India shamed as its greatest painter is driven abroad Shoba Narayan (Writer) Mar 10, 2010 India's treasured painter Maqbool Fida Hussain officially handed over his Indian passport and became a Qatari citizen yesterday. He is never returning home and Indians should not have let him go. Forced into exile five years ago due to death threats from Hindu hardliners, Hussain told interviewers that Qatar is his home now. While he loves India, the 94-year-old artist said, the country didn't need him or want him. All overBharatmata, the Mother India painting. I wonder if the Hindu fundamentalists who made death threats and [...]
For The National Abu Dhabi on the Kumbh Mela
The spectacle of Hindu pilgrims converging near the Ganga.
Secular India
A tolerant and secular India is a myth to make real Shoba Narayan (Writer) Mar 29, 2010 While the roots of Hindu-Muslim enmity in India run deep, every now and then - and dishearteningly, with increasing frequency - certain events serve as touchstones. These events become both symbols and a shorthand; a single word or phrase that encapsulates a community's anger. For my parents' generation, it was partition; for mine, it was Babri Masjid, the demolition of a mosque in 1992 by a large group of Hindu fundamentalists. For today's thirty-somethings, the event was Godhra, where 59 Hindus aboard a [...]
Secular India
A tolerant and secular India is a myth to make real Shoba Narayan (Writer) Mar 29, 2010 While the roots of Hindu-Muslim enmity in India run deep, every now and then - and dishearteningly, with increasing frequency - certain events serve as touchstones. These events become both symbols and a shorthand; a single word or phrase that encapsulates a community's anger. For my parents' generation, it was partition; for mine, it was Babri Masjid, the demolition of a mosque in 1992 by a large group of Hindu fundamentalists. For today's thirty-somethings, the event was Godhra, where 59 Hindus aboard a [...]
Microfinance
Microfinance has become a big deal for India's poorest Shoba Narayan (Writer) Aug 7, 2010 For all the controversy surrounding SKS Microfinance's initial public offering (IPO) last week, its shares were fully subscribed. SKS is India's largest and arguably most successful micro-lender. It began as a non-profit organisation in 1997, lending as little as US$10 (Dh36.73) to women weavers, cow herders, farmers and electricians before reinventing itself as a profit-making concern in 2005. When the company announced a few months ago that it was looking to raise $350 million from the market, it disconcerted people - and not just those [...]
Cappadoccia
Cappadocia: wonders above and below Shoba Narayan (Writer) May 29, 2010 next previous When my father-in-law turned 70 a few years ago, he had two wishes: to visit Turkey and Angkor Wat. Angkor made sense for this gentle scholar of history and geology. But how to navigate Turkey as a Hindu vegetarian family spanning three generations: the "birthday boy", my mother-in-law in her sari, my husband and I, and our two daughters. I planned the trip with some trepidation, mostly by e-mail, sounding out several Turkish tour companies before settling on Argeus, based in Urgup. We had three requirements: rocks, [...]
Money Buys Happiness
Money makes the world go round and can buy happiness Shoba Narayan (Writer) Aug 28, 2010 Experiences bring more happiness than objects. Last week, I did something I have never done before. I took out my credit card bill and categorised my payments into two columns: experiences and objects. Going to a restaurant was an experience; buying a Zara dress was an object. The reason for this curious exercise was a research paper, recently published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology with a provocative title "If money doesn't make you happy, you probably aren't spending it right". Written by Elizabeth [...]