Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
In support of arguing
My friend said something about fighting couples ages ago that served as the seed for this article. We were talking about elderly couples who balk at doing stuff for each other-- particularly women. Caring for husbands during illness, that sort of thing. He said that a couple should fight all the way and iron out differences so that by the time you reach seventy or whatever, your angst about each others' flaws is ironed out. Been thinking about this and this is a tangential take. He who shouts loudest is just a teen trying to make his point Shoba Narayan [...]
Why you may not be as cultured as you think: for Mint Lounge
Nice response to the piece below in Livemint website. I wish The Skeptarian, whoever she or he is had said some more. I don't agree with her or his notions about culture as talking to sweeper. That's my milklady version. The Skeptarian • 7 hours ago −This article just re-articulates a certain sameness in our thinking, a tired view of culture that equates it with the arts. Culture is not that at all. In its truest sense, culture is about a certain catholicity in one's sensibility. It is the ability to let go of one's identity; in fact, it is [...]
Vintage cars
Have to write another article on inheriting collections. Don't think I gave a satisfactory answer to this very interesting question: are you doing your kids a favor by passing on your collection to them? Driven by a passion for possession Can you love a collection that you inherit, particularly one that is not easy to maintain? Shoba Narayan First Published: Sat, Sep 14 2013. 12 03 AM IST The vintage rally in Bangalore was part of a campaign for a cleaner city. Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint A few weeks ago, on a beautiful Sunday morning, a few hundred enthusiasts gathered at [...]
Smartphone addiction
The seed of this piece came from Nilesh, a friend in Bombay, who posted a photo of Sony's phone-camera clip on his FB timeline. It looked cool. I started digging. I love my iPhone, perhaps more than I should. I am waiting to buy an Oliloclip, which will enhance its camera capabilities. Has anyone used these camera attachments for iPhones? This in The National on September 11. Remembering this day when I lived in another beloved city. The zombie-like trance that smartphones induce in us all Shoba Narayan Sep 11, 2013 Save this article I wish I were in Berlin [...]
Storytelling course
I am doing a "webinar" on Storytelling with Takshashila Foundation, a non-profit public policy think-tank co-founded and run by my friend, Nitin Pai. The description can be found here. I get nothing out of it. All proceeds go to Takshashila. Please tell interested participants, although I think they are oversubscribed already.
New York Times: on Indian Girlhood
I wrote and rewrote this piece because it is a topic that I feel passionate about. Women are consensus seekers by nature and often, these voices paralyze action. They say that it takes a village to raise a child. But for girls, particularly in the East, it is also a matter of silencing voices and swimming against the village tide.
The Indian museum makeover 101: for Mint Lounge
This piece began with a simple question: why did we as a family visit museums so often while living in NYC and why don't we go to museums so often in India? Jazz Fridays was a favorite ritual for us when our daughter was a toddler. We would strap her up in the stroller, and walk through the Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side, listening to jazz and seeing the exhibits. Ditto for the Guggenheim. When we went for a fancy schmansy corporate retreat thingie at Pebble Beach in California, the company that had invited us held [...]
Prema Srinivasan’s new book
My daughter wants to be a pastry chef. Study at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. She is 12 and has been saying this for the last two years. This morning, when she picked up Prema Srinivasan's new book, Pure Vegetarian, I got a gleam in my eye. I love croissants. J'adore Paris! But hey, I wish the kid would learn some Indian dishes too. The book is gorgeous. Nothing glossy or overt, nothing cheap. Understated elegance and simplicity, just like the woman-- just like the author. The book is distributed well too. When I was at Kochi airport, I saw several [...]
The sari is neatly woven into my country’s social fabric: for The National Abu Dhabi
A piece on my favorite subject. The National Conversation The sari is neatly woven into my country's social fabric Shoba Narayan Aug 28, 2013 Different people have differing relationships with their country's traditional clothes. The Japanese, for instance, have eschewed the kimono and adapted western attire. So too the Chinese. In Arab nations, women still wear traditional clothes. So too in Vietnam and India, where women switch between western and traditional wear depending upon mood and circumstance. In the last few months, I have started to wear Indian clothes, specifically saris, more often. It didn't start out this way. During [...]
Want the arts to flourish? Get educated: about museums for Mint Lounge
I've been visiting a lot of museums lately. And getting irritated by them. We charge so little as entrance fee. I would happily pay 300 Rupees for the Raja Ravi Varma museum in Trivandrum housed in an old mansion; or for the NGMA in Bangalore. But I don't need to. When I go in, there is so few people. This column is a rant really. Want the arts to flourish? Get educated Along with constructing foundations and museums, consider audience participation Shoba Narayan First Published: Sat, Aug 24 2013. 12 05 AM IST When was the last time you visited [...]