Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Sorry, it’s a boy
Great headline! Sat, May 18 2013. 12 13 AM IST The cow chronicles: sorry, it’s a boy The economics of dairy farming is skewed in favour of the milking cows Shoba Narayan Sarala with Ananda Lakshmi’s newborn calf. Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint There is no room for Alfie, the newborn male calf in my milk-lady Sarala’s cowshed. One of the other cows has also given birth—to a female calf, thankfully, which they plan to keep. They cannot handle two calves. A third cow will deliver in a few weeks. “Where is the space, ma?” asks Sarala, pointing around. The urban cowshed [...]
Pregnant Cow
At this rate, Cow Chronicles will become a book. Here is the latest Sat, May 11 2013. 12 48 PM IST The cow chronicles: why mother matters Pregnant women are feted and fussed over; made to feel good. Feeding a pregnant woman is good karma Sarala feeds Ananda Lakshmi bananas. Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint My cow is pregnant. Sarala announces this one November morning in the matter-of-fact tone that she uses to ask if I want extra milk. I am delighted. Maybe this will resolve all her health issues; regulate her uterus; make her feel better. Over the next few months, [...]
Chennai’s Punjabi Envy and Puns
The best part of this piece was the punny-funny response I got from a friend in Chennai, which I have appended below after taking out all identifying characters. He first sent a handwritten note on the computer, complimenting the piece. To which I replied. Thanks. Love, love, love (and am quite jealous of) your handwritten note. Why can't the iPhone have a stylus? My Chennai friend's response: Alas. Steve Jobs eternal dislike of all things Scully...hence everything that Newton had had to be dropp-ed.....maybe something will get Cook-ed soon? Made my day!! My husband is a great punster, something which [...]
Chennai’s Love for Gold for Mint Lounge
Sat, Apr 13 2013. 12 08 AM IST Chennai’s love for cheesy ‘compliments’ From the Great Chennai Paradox to the American ‘throw ins’—why this love for useless freebies? Chennai shoppers buy a lot of gold, but a freebie makes them smile. Photo: McKay Savage/Wikimedia Commons The lady wants a “compliment”. Nay, she insists on it. She has, after all, spent a few million rupees buying gold jewels at Malabar Gold. “Why no compliment?” she asks. The salesman pulls out a logo-ed plastic bag. “Of course, I will give you a compliment, Mother,” he says. “If not for you, who [...]
About cognac for Mint Lounge
Sat, Apr 06 2013. 12 12 AM IST A very nosy memory Blending great cognac is all about olfactory memory Shoba Narayan Pierrette Trichet, the cellar master of Rémy Martin. Photo: Courtesy Rémy Martin. What did you drink this morning—coffee or tea? What did your tea smell like? What did your coffee taste like? If you are stymied for words, you are not alone. Humans are very good at remembering and describing what they see but ask them to describe smells and taste and they become quiet. Wine writers and perfume “noses” (professionals who mix and create scents) are [...]
Champaca and the global perfume market: Mint Lounge
I'm crazy about perfume. In one of my favorite books of all time- Gerald Durrell's My family and other animals, the mother goes around looking for suitable burial sites for her when she dies. I know it sounds morbid, but I occasionally want to tell my family to bury me with mounds of fragrant flowers when I die. The Indian concept of perfume is more encompassing. Flowers in hair and scent all over, including in the home with incense. This appeared this week in Mint Lounge's luxury issue. Read Rajeev Sethi's piece on luxury as 'pehchaan.' Loved it. The man [...]
The Art of Throwing
Do scientists do research on throwing and running? I didn't know this before I interviewed this man. It was heartening to hear his views on scientific research in India and the funding that is available. My friend, Srikantan, who is in California, once tried for a faculty position in the IISc and mentioned that it was tough to crack. Since then, I have wondered about luring scientific minds back to India-- and whether Indian institutes have the ability to do this. Nowadays, I hear about more and more Indian-American professors who are returning to India to take up jobs. My [...]
Wine and Indian food: for Mint Lounge
I have been house-bound these days and have spent a lot of time boning up on an old pursuit: wine. Reading, talking, listening and sampling. The amount of material available on the Web is phenomenal; and the amount of wine available at my local Madhuloka is....er... pathetic. Thank God for kind friends who raid their duty-free shops en route to me. Here is this week's column in Mint. A wine list for ‘malai kofta’ and fish ‘moily’ It is up to Indians to show the wine world how to pair their wines with our food Shoba Narayan First Published: Thu, [...]
How Bangalore has created Power Partnerships
This weeks Mint Lounge is a quirky take on Power Couples. It includes parent-child partnerships along with the usual spouses one. When my editors told me to write on "Power Couples," I wrote a sneering, snarky one that was (again) at attempt at humor. Thankfully, this meeting happened and I attended. So I asked if I could refile and substitute that one for this. Here is the piece on Mint's website and below. I hope BPAC flourishes.
Chateau Haut-Brion: for Mint Lounge
How to sell old wine in new bottles Indians like irreverent mavericks. We don’t know what to do with the too-polished ones Shoba Narayan Prince Robert was in Bangalore to showcase Château Haut-Brion. Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint. Prince Robert of Luxembourg was in town the other day to suss out the Indian market and showcase the wines of his prestigious estate, Château Haut-Brion. A courtly, elegant man, he was perfectly polite as he talked about his wines and why India was important to them. “We have had more and more visitors to our estate from India,” he said. “It is the No. [...]