Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Recovering from Super Typhoon Haiyan for The National Abu Dhabi
This was a daunting piece to write. I didn't think I could interview everyone globally-- and on deadline-- on this topic. Which just goes to show that with the Internet and things like Skype, the world is indeed a small place. As the Philippines continues to recover from Haiyan, disaster experts tell us how we can improve December 19, 2013 Updated: December 19, 2013 11:51:00 Shoba Narayan Days merge into nights for Athena Denise Gepte, the emergency response coordinator for the Philippine NGO Accord, who is based in Tacloban, one of the cities hit hardest by Super Typhoon Haiyan. Gepte [...]
Cultural Immersion
A while ago, Ravi Bapna, a professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, asked me to do "cultural immersion" module for his visiting MBA class. I created four PowerPoint presentations but the sessions ended up being highly interactive. They learnt about Indian culture, learned how to wear a sari or dhoti, sing (Vande Mataram) or any other song. I demonstrated a kolam (rangoli); answered lots of questions about culture, art, poverty, beggars, and the economy. This time, students from Cornell's Johnson school of management visited. I got a call asking if I would do it. [...]
Sparkling wine: how does it work: for Mint Lounge
I wanted to meet two sisters in the food and wine business. Their elderflower juice was so aromatic. FIRST PUBLISHED: SAT, DEC 14 2013. 01 18 AM ISTHOME» LEISURE» THE GOOD LIFE Wines, economy and culture preservation What kind of wines would you put together for an office party? Shoba Narayan Mail Me Wines, economy and culture preservation Juliette (right) and Marie Mommousseau were in Bangalore recently. Photo: Aniruddha Chowdhury/Mint A reader wants to know: What kind of wines would you put together for an office party, assuming a budget of Rs.2,000 per bottle? I put this question to Juliette [...]
For The National Abu Dhabi on Kerala
In The National, Abu Dhabi Thiruvananthapuram is India's evergreen destination Shoba Narayan December 5, 2013 Updated: December 5, 2013 16:52:00 With its lush green foliage, balmy weather and quiet streets, Thiruvananthapuram, previously called Trivandrum, provides a genteel and serene counterpoint to the frenetic chaos of India. The temple was recently in the news when chambers containing US$15 billion (Dh55bn) worth of jewels, gold and other religious objects were discovered. An ancient coastal city with a history going back to 1000 BC, this capital of Kerala state attracted traders and kings through the ages, including King Solomon, who is believed to [...]
The Chennai music season decoded: for Mint Lounge
Chuffed that Ranjani Gayathri posted this piece in their Facebook page (Ra-Ga). Nice acronym. Sat, Dec 07 2013. 12 09 AM IST The Chennai music season decoded A primer to Chennai’s music and dance festival Shoba Narayan Ranjani and Gayathri perform with Charumathi Raghuraman This is the time of year when my Klout score drastically increases. Thanks simply to the fact that I grew up in Chennai and am interested in music and dance, my popularity reaches an all-time high, with friends, acquaintances and even cordial enemies from across the globe asking about Chennai’s December season. It is also the [...]
Poetry reading.
If any of you are in Bangalore tomorrow, I am moderating a poetry reading by Athena Kashyap. Please come. I am fascinated by poetry: the musicality of it; how to make words sing; how to condense thought. So I thought I would engage Athena in a discussion about the whys and how of poetry writing. I will begin by having Athena talk about her book and read a short excerpt. And then, I will widen the scope to poetry in general. In preparation, I went to the site that I always turn to: The Paris Review Interviews. This time with [...]
Radio New Zealand
Educating Muslim girls for radio here
Storytelling
Telling stories allows us to connect with the wider world Shoba Narayan November 26, 2013 Updated: November 26, 2013 17:32:00 We live to tell stories. We make sense of life by telling them. We connect to people through stories. No matter what field you are in – whether it is philanthropy or public policy, engineering or economics, management or manufacturing – stories can connect you with your audience. They can help you make a point, persuade a group, or propagate an agenda. Stories connect content with emotion. They help you push buttons, inspire people to join a cause, and disseminate [...]
Wine Palate: how to figure it out: for Mint Lounge
Wine wisdom: figure out your palate The problem with wine-talk is that unless you are in the company of oenophiles, no matter what you say, it sounds pretentious. You can blather on about the bouquet of a good Frescobaldi or the greatness of the 2009 vintage. For the average person you might as well be talking about Gaussian elimination or Markov chains. Terms like bouquet, finish, and terroir mean specific things to experts but are meaningless to the general population. In India, the problem is compounded by the fact that imported wines are stored and transported in shoddy conditions, turning [...]
Failure and success
I talk about the sandbox, but harder still is to watch your kid shut you out of her college application process and not go crazy. If you let your kids fail, you might be doing them a favour Shoba Narayan November 19, 2013 Updated: November 19, 2013 19:36:00 It is a conundrum. Encountering obstacles and failures helps a child to develop grit and resilience, yet the hardest thing for a parent to do is to sit and watch as their child stumbles and falls. Angela Lee Duckworth, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, has said that grit and determination are surprisingly [...]