Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Senior Citizen Matchmaking
Elisabeth, my Parisienne friend. I am wearing the kurta you got for me in Anokhi. The pink one. I miss you. It has been a while since I posted on this blog. Somehow, writing messages to friends is an idea that I got from my friend who won the "ovarian lottery" and began this blog for me. So in addition to dumping articles here, I will write, to paraphrase Roald Dahl who said, "secret plans and clever tricks," in his Crocodile book, I will write "secret messages and candid compliments" when I can. I like writing for The National, [...]
Ode to an old-fashioned radio: how our parents listened to the news
How did you lose your Malayalam accent, I asked my father, especially since it has smeared itself like coconut oil on every other relative from Kerala. Radio, replied my father. My paternal grandfather was a lawyer in Kottayam, the kind of man who made fallen dominoes out of hardened criminals. At 9pm sharp, he would order his vast clan of sons, daughters and nephews to collect at his feet. Together they would turn on the radio and listen to the familiar voice that said, “This is London calling.”
The fantastic range of jewellery in India: inventive and imaginative
The range of jewellery available in India in terms of materials used, designs and techniques of craftsmanship is unparalleled,” says author and jewellery expert Usha Balakrishnan. She gives examples. The Nagas make jewellery using beetle wings, feathers and bones; Bengalis use conch shells for their bangles; Keralites include tiger claws and elephant hair in their jewellery; Maharashtrians use black beads; many states, including Tamil Nadu, use terracotta. The language of Indian ornamentation is vast. There is no such thing as pan-Indian jewellery.
Traditional jewelry brands going modern for Mint Lounge
Star trek How a traditional jewellery house can morph into a modern avatar without losing its cross-generational clientele Shoba Narayan Heritage jewellery from C. Krishniah Chetty & Sons In 1877, a young Greek jeweller named Sotirios Boulgaris left his village in the Epirus region and travelled to Corfu, Naples and, finally, Rome, where—in 1884—he opened a store on Via Sistina under the name Bulgari. A century later, Claudio Mariani, a young Italian, joined the company, first as a jewellery designer, then as manager of their Geneva outlet, and later as head of their Asian operations. At the [...]
Napa Valley wines Part 2 for Mint Lounge
Beyond the blue yonder where chocolate-coloured grapevines stretch as far as the eye can see, a plant is making choices about its future. It is gnarly and old. Its snaking brown roots sink deep into the land that has been its sole and only home; a land that made its name through Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa, they call this place. It used to be farmland until the 1970s. A young Stanford graduate, Robert Mondavi, moved there to start a winery in 1966. That changed everything.
Dead cow in the Ganga: for Mint on Sunday
Kashi is endlessly fascinating as is the Ganga, the river of India as Jawaharlal Nehru famously said. I just loved writing this piece. BIG STORY Sun, 28 Feb 2016 HOW BLIND FAITH IS CHOKING THE GANGA Photo: Shoba Narayan The mission to clean the Ganga will be a pipe dream as long as Indians have no problem in perceiving and accepting the river as both pure and dirty Shoba Narayan The Ganga would be a good place to jump in. The question that looms before me is whether to jump into the Ganga in Kashi: the holiest of rivers in [...]
Ways of Seeing at Indian Institute of Science
Teaching sculpture to 115 bright scientists is-- shall we say-- an interesting if challenging exercise. Told the class to bring in a quick piece of art that they created. Was pleasantly surprised. Lots of drawings; lots of science connections and equations. I am teaching a class for this month under the auspices of the Center for Contemporary Studies in the beautiful IISc campus. (Thank you Suhas Mahesh for the first connect) and to the amazing Professor Raghavendra Gadagkar who runs this program with his super capable bright second-in-command, Bitasta Mukherjee. Here are some shots of the art work.
Kashi, Ganga and the politics of religion
I enjoyed writing this four part series for Mint on Sunday. Kashi is a dream-like place. Seems to belong to another time, and yet to all time. The photos are mine too :) OF DEAD COWS AND THE GANGA: THE PARADOX OF RELIGION Photo: Shoba Narayan In her quest to embrace faith, the ultimate feel-good pill on the rocky road called life, this writer looks for divine intervention in Kashi Shoba Narayan A dead cow is floating down the river Ganga. She is a black and white Holstein Friesian cow, like the one I own in Bangalore. She floats [...]
Napa Valley wines Part 1 for Mint Lounge
Nicholson Ranch was the last stop on Day 1. By then, Platypus Wine Tours had taken a group of us wine tourists to three Napa Valley wineries in California. Buena Vista, because it was the oldest; Robledo, because it was the first to be owned by a migrant Mexican worker; and Peter Cellars, because it was a one-man show by a transplanted Brit. They say Pinot Noirs are the hardest to grow, but really, it could apply to any varietal. Blame it on Sideways.
Love after fifty
Fifty by heart Love after 50 is a complex dance; it is also just habit Shoba Narayan Elizabeth Taylor and husband Richard Burton at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, 1963. Photo: SSPL/Getty Images Love after 50 is a loaded phrase: one that is full of possibilities. Does it mean that it is possible to love after 50? What kind of love? The same spousal love that has now degenerated to arguing over TV channels? Or a new sort? With whom? For how long? Is love after 50 a hopeful or a hopeless phrase? I ask Rooney, my neighbour’s dog. We are sitting [...]