Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
At work, women don’t need to play by the same rules as men: for The National Abu Dhabi
At work, women don’t need to play by the same rules as men Indian politician and novelist Shashi Tharoor. (David Levenson / Getty Images) At work, women don’t need to play by the same rules as men Shoba Narayan December 8, 2014 Updated: December 8, 2014 09:30 AM My grandparents had four sons and one daughter: my mother. My grandmother’s favourite son was her eldest. He was always smiling, had a sweet word for everyone and sent my grandmother photos from faraway England with lines of Tamil poetry as captions. Her third son lived in the same town as she [...]
Why your girl should go to a women’s college: for Mint Lounge
My view—from personal experience and from watching other adolescent girls—is that women have many voices in their heads that tell them how to behave. They have a mortal fear of being judged. They hate confrontation. A good teacher can drown these voices. A good college can alleviate the desire for approval that women have; the self-correction that they engage in all the time. Through role play and encouragement, faculty and staff teach young women to be assertive, to speak up; to stop second-guessing their thoughts and opinions.
An all-women’s college changed my life: for The National Abu Dhabi
Inspired by the visit of Sonya Stephens of Mount Holyoke, I began thinking about women's colleges. An all-women’s college changed my life Shoba Narayan November 29, 2014 Updated: November 29, 2014 05:48 PM Those involved in higher education – and I say this as the daughter of a college professor – sometimes forget just what an impact they can make on a young student’s life. Think about it. If you are over 40, you probably don’t remember who you met last week. But you do remember those teachers whose classes you enjoyed and the teachers who shaped your mind, [...]
Raga Connection show
I will be doing a workshop "The Raga Connection" along with a friend and fabulous singer, Chitra Srikrishna, at the Times of India literary festival this Sunday on the 7th of December (details below) If you have kids who would be interested in attending the workshop or other friends in Mumbai, please let them know. Details here http://timeslitfest.com/schedule-7-dec.php
Year in Review
It is the time for "Year in Review." Spoke to Bryan Crump at Radio New Zealand here.
Bonda Soup, where the bowl matters: for Mint Lounge
Still bummed that I didn't go to Ayodhya in Mangalore for typical Mangalorean food. The bowl matters as much as the soup I grew up in a home where we ate on stainless-steel plates. My grandmother’s idea of a festive dinner was to lay banana leaves on the floor and have a small army of topless dhoti-clad men race down serving spoonfuls of various dishes in a prescribed order: first payasam (kheer), then paruppu (dal), then pappadam , then pachadi (raita). Then came an array of dishes that are pretty much untranslatable— kootu , avial , olan , kaalan , [...]
In search of the perfect wine glass
Anyone who has stayed in a hostel has a resource-constrained mindset towards food. I don’t care which college you went to. Standing in line and waiting for a finite amount of food does something to your psyche. It makes you think of food, not as a pleasure to be had, but as a resource to be grabbed. It has taken me several decades to get out of this mindset.
Identity and Culture: for The National Abu Dhabi
One more ode to my favorite garment: the sari. How a simple, draped cloth defines a national aesthetic Shoba Narayan November 19, 2014 Updated: November 19, 2014 07:07 PM There are many ways to come at the concept called identity. Aesthetics is one of them. Every culture has a distinct aesthetic. Chinese poetry describes eyebrows like willow leaves; Japanese paintings celebrate women with white skin and rosebud-shaped lips; the Arab world emphasises the beauty of a woman’s eyes; Europeans pay attention to cut and silhouette and how it complements a woman’s body. India, in contrast, is a culture of drapery, [...]
Heritage Conservation
What Mumbai has that Bengaluru doesn’t There is an anecdote that is the stuff of legend. When queen Victoria took over the administration of India from the British East India Company in the 1860s, she gathered a group of cultural big shots to figure out urban planning and aesthetics. The group came up with a plan. They would give Bombay a Gothic style of architecture; Calcutta, a Colonial style; and Madras, an Indo-Saracenic style. As for Delhi, they would give it to a young architect called Edwin Landseer Lutyens, who was becoming known for his syncretic approach to building. The [...]
For The National Abu Dhabi on Bombay
Why does Mumbai inspire so much activism, writing, and imagination? Urbs Primus in Indus: the enduring appeal of Mumbai, India Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station in Mumbai. Trains play an important part of daily social life in the Indian city, as do the battered black-and-yellow taxis. Frederic Soltan / Corbis Primary cause in India’s most enduring city, Mumbai Shoba Narayan November 13, 2014 Updated: November 13, 2014 05:24 PM The best way to enter Mumbai is through its battered black-and-yellow taxis. If you’re lucky, you’ll happen upon a chatty taxi driver who will apprise you of the goings-on in this [...]