Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
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?
Gita and management
Dharma is a very complicated Hindu concept. In this episode, I discuss this idea with Professor B.Mahadevan Professor B. Mahadevan has taught at the Indian Institute of Management for over 20 years. His research interests include supply chain management in electronic markets. He teaches an elective on how to apply lessons from the Bhagavad Gita into management. The course, he says, demonstrates how religious, spiritual and secular ideas coexist in Gita and how they can address some of the issues we face in the contemporary society in a wholesome manner. Today, Professor Mahadevan is with us to talk about a [...]
Reduce transactions
I am speaking at The Bangalore Club on November 20th. The title, which I suggested is "Returned to India: now what?" I am sorta freaking out because I want to make it funny. Debut stand-up act and all that. The below is stuff that I am thinking about as I prepare my material. Yikes. Oh, and I pay a compliment to my spouse, which I rarely do (in person or in print). Darn it. Not funny enough. Delegation in domestic matters frees up time for me to waste Shoba Narayan November 4, 2014 Updated: November 4, 2014 05:08 PM I [...]
Garlands as a national emblem: The National Abu Dhabi
I didn't set out to link flowers to culture, but there they are. A simple garland of flowers is a powerful cultural emblem. Dutch people stick tulips into vases. Brazilians arrange flowers on little pots that they hang all over white walls. Hawaiians make lei garlands out of flowers and wear them when they dance. Arabs dry flowers and powder them along with herbs for their bakhoor incense. Americans and Europeans arrange flowers elaborately in funky vases. And Indians string flowers so that they can hang that string across doorways or wear it braided into their hair. In one sense, [...]
Birds: A tryst with cacophony and camouflage
Bird watching fits this paradigm, because no matter where you travel, you will always find birds. If you educate yourself on birds, you can travel the world and remain engaged in your interest. When you get too old or feeble to travel, you can stand in your balcony and look through binoculars. As I have been doing. The freedom that birds seem to experience is uplifting and you wish you could lift yourself up.
Feasting and fasting
I am writing this as I face laddus, barfis, badam chocolates, and mixture. Oh, the irony. Denial is good in principle, but is it better than an extra cup of coffee? Shoba Narayan October 19, 2014 Updated: October 19, 2014 05:38 PM The festive season is in full swing in India. It is a time for celebration, family and pain. People obsess over feasting and fasting. The eternal question that accompanies most happy events, whether they are weddings, parties or holidays, continues to be asked: how to enjoy the array of goodies that tempt the palate at every corner without [...]
Suhas Mahesh
Suhas Mahesh talks about the pleasures of Sanskrit and physics. Thank you Suhas! When I contacted Suhas Mahesh, he wanted to talk about three things. 1. Can Sanskrit as a language be removed from its religious roots. Is that possible? 2. How do we rejuvenate indian culture using Sanskrit as a tool. 3. Science in Sanskrit. Suhas Mahesh is an undergraduate at the Indian Institute of Science. Though blissfully wedded to physics during day, he ekes out time to woo language at night. Despite his diplomatic insistence that he loves all languages equally, sources close to him reveal that he has [...]