Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
On Indian Rock music for Mint Lounge
The (rock) music is someplace else Posted: Thu, Nov 10 2011. 8:54 PM IST Someplace Else is cozy and dark. It has uncomfortable bar stools that jiggle when you crane your neck to watch the old-timers hum to the songs The Good life | Shoba Narayan I am doing something I haven’t done in a long time: asking a perfect stranger out to a nightclub in a strange city. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you that this piece is about music, not blind dates. His name is Prasanna Singh, and I found him online. He [...]
Art and Articulation for Mint Lounge
My column in Mint this week, here on the website and pasted below Art and articulation often don’t go together What do we art lovers expect from our artists? Do we want them to be worldly and articulate like the late M.F. Husain or reclusive and free from market influences, like the late Tyeb Mehta or Biren De? The Good life | Shoba Narayan I have a trick question for Pratiti Basu Sarkar, who runs the Centre of International Modern Art (Cima) in Kolkata. It’s a fair question but there really is no good answer—or so I think. I find Sarkar through [...]
The Leela Delhi: Hotel Review: Mint Lounge
Is anyone listening to the guest? 4 min read 27 Oct 2011, 09:23 PM IST The Good life | Shoba Narayan Small bites: Try the fresh salads from Egypt, Morocco and all over the Mediterranean, at The Qube, at the new Leela in Delhi It was 12.45 when I walked into the new Leela in Delhi to check in. I had scheduled a business lunch at the hotel’s Qube restaurant at 1pm and was worried I’d be late. All I wanted to do was go to my room, drop my bag, wash my face and get to the restaurant in [...]
For Cathay Pacific magazine on Beer
Why Bangalore is the city for craft beers
For Destinasian on Kashmir
Up high in the Kashmir valley where flowers and maidens bloom.
Learning about tea from an expert
My main source for high-quality teas is my friend Kishore Mariwala of Bombay. Kishore is a connoisseur of many things: Hindustani music, tea, single malts to name three. Our friendship began when he wrote to Mint two years ago, commenting on a piece I had written on coffee. I have, with his permission, reproduced the letter below, mostly because it gives helpful tips about how to drink fine tea: water temperature and such. Kishore, as you will see below, has a eye for detail and is perfectionist about his teas. Every now and then, Kishore will courier me some tea [...]
The Noble Useful Art of Telling White Lies
The human urge to cheat and lie goes against the desire to feel good when you look in the mirror. Yet, humans lie and cheat.
Global Village for The National
My life: the global village Shoba Narayan Oct 12, 2011 Ten years ago, I sat at the window of my Manhattan high-rise, watching a plane fly overhead and wishing I were on it. It was a cold day in November and I held my newborn second daughter in my arms. For most of my life, I had been on the immigrant treadmill - coming to America as a student, and then staying on for over a decade - getting married, getting a job, securing a green card, having babies, and finally becoming a naturalised US citizen in the year [...]
Kolkata Durga Puja for Mint Lounge
This piece came out in Mint Lounge this week. When Kolkata Turns into a Temporary Museum The Good Life | Shoba Narayan It is 1am, but the Shiv Mandir para(neighbourhood) in Kolkata is hopping. Shorts-clad young men named Deb and Dickie are working alongside about 20 artisans who are erecting what seems to be a gigantic bamboo stage set, but is in fact a homage to Ma Durga. Tall tribal musicians made of bamboo are hoisted upright as five men anchor them to the ground. About eight bamboo musicians stand at the entrance to the pandal, serenading a multi-hued peacock made by [...]
Art collector Anupam Poddar profile for The National Abu Dhabi
This is a profile of Indian art collector, Anupam Poddar, who has one of the best collections of Indian Contemporary Art. As the piece suggests, it could well become an Asian art collection in the near future. Here is the URL of the profile in The National Here is the PDF upload.Poddar Page 1Poddar Page 2 Here is the URL of a column I wrote for Mint