Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
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 [...]
Bangalore Club
A simple email I got some time ago. On Oct 13, 2014, at 10:22 PM, Vikram Rajaram wrote: Dear Shobha, We have, in the past, been in touch re the possibility of getting you to speak at the Bangalore Club. Your father-in-law was unwell then and I did not feel it was opportune to push it. Can we pick up the threads again? Would a slot in the third week of November work for you? Please let me know. With kind regards, Vikram Rajaram So Vikram and I went back and forth. It ended in a talk If you are [...]
Culture and Globalization
The Question of our Time. How can we stay rooted in our own culture in a globalised world? In a globalised world, it's hard to define our respective culture by what we eat or how we dress up. Mike Young / The National How can we stay rooted in our own culture in a globalised world? Shoba Narayan November 10, 2014 Updated: November 10, 2014 06:36 PM What makes you who you are? Is it genes? Or culture? Is it the environment that you grow up in? If it is environment, what aspect of it influences you the most? Is [...]
Heritage Buildings
Thank you, Deepa Krishnan of Mumbai Magic for pointing me to a great PDF describing heritage conservation in Bombay Lessons from the Balabrooie brouhaha On heritage conservation in India Shoba Narayan Heritage views No.1: preserve or modernize? A smart leader allows his people to believe that they have influenced him; and that is what the chief minister (CM) of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, did a few weeks ago. The brouhaha began with the news that the Balabrooie Guest House, a beautiful 150-year-old government property near the golf course in Bengaluru, was going to be razed to make way for a legislators’ [...]
Spirits of India
Korea has soju; Japan has sake; America has bourbon; Mexico has tequila and mezcal; Germany has schnapps; Scandinavia has aquavit; France has wine; Greece has ouzo; Britain has beer; Portugal has port; Spain has sherry; Turkey has raki; Brazil has cachaça; Peru has pisco; Scotland has Scotch; and India has…what? Chai? Horlicks? At a time when national spirit is high, shouldn’t we consider a signature spirit as well?