Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Design inspired by India: Mint Lounge Luxury issue
I was at the Mint Luxury conference in Mumbai. The Lounge Luxury issue was timed for that. There are some terrific essays by Radha Chadha and Sunil Khilnani. I liked Radha's "More is More" theory of Indian luxury-- it is spot on. Here is the link to my piece. Columns Posted: Fri, Mar 23 2012. 8:45 PM IST The balancing act Buying well-designed but functionally poor objects is not sustainable long-term because there is only so much “stuff” that your home can accommodate The Good Life | Shoba Narayan Even for design junkies such as myself, the world of product [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
About Jitish Kallat and Reena Saini Kallat for Mint Lounge
Columns Posted: Thu, Feb 2 2012. 7:45 PM IST Walking the art talk with the Kallats Jitish and Reena are charming and polite—to me and to each other. They don’t interrupt and listen intently to each other as they describe their 18-year-old relationship, seven-year-old son and the trappings of fame and wealth that have come to them The Good Life | Shoba Narayan I am trailing artist-couple Jitish Kallat and Reena Saini Kallat through the white-cubed maze that is the India Art Fair in New Delhi. By the time you read this, the fair would have finished. My goal is [...]
Why art needs to speak a simpler tongue: for Mint Lounge
Here is the piece in Mint Columns Posted: Fri, Jan 27 2012. 9:51 PM IST Why art needs to speak a simpler tongue The India Art Fair is in full swing; and Delhi feels like it is at the centre of the universe. This is the trick that geography plays. When you are part of an event, part of its intellectual mindspace, you get drawn into its “reality distortion field” The Good life | Shoba Narayan One of the questions facing all organizers of large events in light of what happened in Jaipur is this: How much of a broad [...]
The poetry of War Horse for Mint Lounge
The poetry of a horse on the move About sculpture, horses and Sayaka Ganz's work. This one is for Dhruv and Noor 4 min read . The Good Life | Shoba Narayan Pappu is nuzzling my neck. He smells of hay and heaven. His hot breath fills my nape as he nudges my tussar silk dupatta aside. The material must tickle his nose because he does something I’ve rarely seen horses do: He grins. “Hrrummph," he neighs and takes a playful bite of my shoulder. “Ouch," I reply and step away. [...]
Comedy Improv
The loser’s guide to comic relief
Profile of Sabyasachi, fashion desiger, for Mint Lounge
Sabyasachi, the revivalist businessman 5 min read . Updated: 06 Jan 2012, 09:31 PM IST The Good life | Shoba Narayan Clad in a khadi kurta-pyjama and Ferragamo flats, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, 37, is having lunch at the ITC Sonar, Kolkata. It is 4pm. We are at the coffee shop. He orders lal maas. I have already eaten. I order jhalmuri. Mukherjee is also a “biryani freak” and will only buy it at Rahmania or Nizam’s for their “sinfully greasy biryanis”. Fish, he says, has to be eaten at home. He tastes myjhalmuri [...]
Chennai’s muse: the Bharatanatyam divas
Chennai's muse: the Bharatanatyam divas 3 min read . Updated: 30 Dec 2011, 09:58 PM IST The Good Life | Shoba Narayan I am going to let you in on a little secret. I don’t know if it is the same in north India, but here in Chennai, where I grew up, everyone has this fixation that revolves around Bharatanatyam dancers. If you have a daughter, you want her to learn this ancient art form that originated with the sage Bharata and his text, the Natya Shastra. If you have a son, [...]
Chateau Margaux and Alain Passard: for Mint Lounge
When your food sings to you So I have a message for Paul Pontallier: Come again to India with your subtle, amazing wines; but next time, dignify our palates by choosing a local chef for the meal The Good Life | Shoba Narayan As we are introduced, Paul Pontallier, the legendary winemaker of Château Margaux, takes my hand, bends down…and kisses it—exactly like Elaine Sciolino describes in her book, La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life. I walk in prickly (more about that later) but by the time Pontallier releases my hand, I am charmed. We are at The Leela [...]