Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Some Feedback.
A friend sent me these links. Thanks, Raj. I thought I'd put them up. Writer and journalist Shoba Narayan puts a question mark over the link if any, between art and articulation and whether they go together. If you haven't read Shoba, I suggest you do. Her grace comes from being falliable, being one amongst us. She writes with insight and blends personal vignettes into almost all her pieces. I have reproduced an article by her, about how we choose our friends (or how we don't choose friends) depends how you look at the dimension. I can't but agree 100% [...]
About A Pet. Inji darling. RIP.
A very very hard piece to write. I wrote reams of prose and then rewrote it countless times. This has been in the works for the last four months. Finally worked up the nerve to send it and have it published. Not going to show it to my kids. Don't know if they can handle it. Luckily, one is on a school trip and the other doesn't read my column. Here is the link to Mint's page. Pasted below is my longer version, which needed to be cut for space. The night before my dog, Inji, died, she and I lay [...]
Food and its connection with place for The National Abu Dhabi
My column for The National's M magazine, edited by the divine Rick Arthur and Helena Powell. Click here for the latest one. Also pasted below. Great meals forge a connection to their place and time Shoba Narayan Nov 16, 2011 Foods have a connection to place but not an obvious one. To explain, I must make the distinction between good food and memorable meals. Good food is best found where it originates. You expect to have spicy samosas in India, terrific borscht in Russia, rich raclette in Switzerland and fresh sushi in Japan. What makes a meal memorable is an [...]
Indian Textiles for The National
I am in love with Indian fabrics, particularly cotton. Here is a piece on them Traditional Indian textiles get a turn on the fashion stage Shoba Narayan Nov 13, 2011 A group of Japanese tourists descend on Weaver's Studio, a textile boutique in Kolkata, specialising in handcrafted, handwoven clothes. They walk through the three rooms, admiring the hanging silk saris in jewel colours of magenta, turquoise, aquamarine, emerald and purple. In another room are block-printed fabrics with swirling green vines and orange flowers. The Japanese women utter little exclamations of delight as they sort through silk stoles and organic [...]
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 [...]