Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
There is more to a name than you know
Today, I read in the paper about a chess prodigy whose name is 100% a result of numerology. I find this weird spelling names especially in Mumbai folks. Film stars....Ajay Devgn for instance. Another tangential remark is that I found a bunch of Mint columns that are not on this website. For comprehensiveness, I am slowly uploading them. Reading them.
Why isn’t Ahmedabad the seat of design?
I am visiting this 600-year-old city that Sultan Ahmed Shah founded, for the first time, and I love it. I didn’t expect to. Indians are funny that way. Each of us is intensely proud of the region we call home, and, truth be told, there is enough in each place to be proud of. Talk to a Goan and they will act as if the good life or Sussegado originated in Goa. Talk some more and it becomes hard to argue otherwise. Talk to a Tamilian and they will act as if culture begins and ends in Chennai. Visit Chennai in December and you will become convinced. Talk to a Bengali and they will make your head spin with their literary and intellectual allusions. All Bengalis think Kolkata is the center of the universe and once you get into the ‘adda’ mindset, you will feel the same way too. And now, Gujarat. Deep breath.
Your city determines how grumpy you are
Recently, I read a book called “The Geography of Bliss,” by Eric Weiner. In it, Weiner, a radio correspondent who calls himself a world-class “grump,” visits about a dozen cities around the world to answer what, to him, is a fundamental question: why are some places happier than others? Why, for example, do countries like Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Denmark score higher on the “happiness scale” than African countries like Burundi, Sierra Leone and Togo? Compiled by Dutch sociologist Ruut Veenhoven, India scores a respectable 5.5 in this World Database of Happiness. So do Hungary, Russia, Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan. We score higher than the African countries with a score of 2.5, but much lower than the “happiest” countries of the world that score at least 8.0.
What luxury means in 2021
If you ask your mother or grandmother what their idea of luxury is, you will probably get an answer that’s a variation of one of these: “A double ikat Patan patola.” “A diamond addigai (necklace).” “A Kashmiri silk carpet or a shahtoosh.” “A Mughal miniature painting. Or a Srinathji pichwai.” “Listening to Sawai Gandharva on a full-moon night on the banks of the Ganga.” Indians of earlier generations know luxury in a visceral, sensual way. Every product I have mentioned above is hyper-localised, linked to region, personal history and provenance. Often, each of these luxury objects is made by an artist or craftsperson who has worked with the family to custom specifications. It is purchased for a high price by an aesthete who has been following the sector for generations. If that isn’t luxury shopping, what is?
Raj Parr profile/Mint Lounge
Some time ago, I drove three hours from San Francisco down the coast of California to a picturesque town of Cambria-- to meet iconic winemaker, Raj Parr. As you will read my profile of him here, Raj Parr can identify wine varietal, vintage and producer by simply smelling the wine. Which to me is the thrill of tasting wine. The nose is an under-used organ and wine-tasters have figured out how to make it work for them. Read about how Raj Parr does it.
Karma yoga and the need to negotiate
Karma yoga and the need to negotiate 5 min read . Updated: 16 Jul 2009, 09:20 PM IST The Good Life | Shoba Narayan Karma yoga and the need to negotiate What’s the best negotiating strategy you can use in a job? Ability, credibility and the willingness to walk away. Not my words. Strategic HR adviser Hema Ravichandar’s. Last Sunday, I called Ravichandar, who cut her teeth as HR head at Infosys Technologies, to get tips on negotiation. During our interview, I observed that E. Sreedharan, whom I admire unabashedly, must be a master negotiator. He reads the Gita for 45 [...]
Twenty ways to do offbeat luxury
Twenty ways to do offbeat luxury in 2010: for Mint Lounge 4 min read . Updated: 02 Jan 2010, 02:33 PM IST The Good Life | Shoba Narayan Twenty ways to do offbeat luxury in 2010 Happy New Year everyone! The recession is over, according to no less a source than the top White House economic adviser Larry Summers. Resoundingly over, report trade pundits in India. As we pick ourselves up from the debris of the last decade, it is hard not to feel optimistic about this one. It’s time—about time—for some cheer and celebration. Time to live and love; celebrate [...]
Bangalore’s underrated restaurants
Bangalore’s most underrated restaurants 4 min read . Updated: 22 Jul 2010, 07:57 PM IST Shoba Narayan | The Good Life Bangalore’s most underrated restaurants Some weeks ago, I was at a food and wine tasting, put together by Food Lovers, a Bangalore-based magazine with a self-explanatory name. I read the magazine for its restaurant reviews and foodie news. Occasionally, the magazine invites me to be part of its free tasting panels. A group of us sample food and wine and offer written opinions. Like foodies everywhere, we talk in obsessive and excruciating detail about things that might make a technocrat’s eyes [...]
Why naturalists are happier people
Being surrounded by trees, rivers and animals can add years to your life; and life to your years Welcome to my office," says Arpita Dutta. As lines go, this one is not particularly original. Except that we are sitting in an open-topped Jeep at the entrance to the Chitwan National Park, in Nepal, which, as it happens, is Dutta’s office: the place she visits every day. Dutta, 33, is an amazing woman. Born and raised in West Bengal, she has worked in forests all her life. She has done research on the Sundarbans and currently works at Taj Safaris’ newly [...]
Do your parents embarrass you?
When your mamma rocks the floor Have you ever been embarrassed by your parents? I confess that I have. The time when I was 18, for instance, and my father came searching for me at Mardi Gras (IIT Madras’ annual cultural festival). There I was, acting cool around those IIT guys. When my Dad showed up to take me back home, the smoky independence that I affected came crashing down. Now, of course, my kids are embarrassed by me. The last time this happened was this past New Year’s Eve. We were three generations—my brother’s family, mine, and my [...]