Craft chocolate: Destinasian Hong Kong
This post is about the flowering of Indian craft chocolate using local ingredients. Really lovely to see an idli-grinder as part of the chocolate making process.
WisdomCircle: how much money
When I was at the Columbia Journalism program in 1995, two professors invited a bunch of us students to their apartment for dinner. After a few drinks, one students asked— what’s the number? How much do you need to live like this?
Hindustan Times: Theatre in Bengaluru
Karnataka, like every other Indian state also has a robust night life beyond the pubs nightclubs which includes theatre, music performances, and processions, all of which are linked to religious institutions.
Hindustan Times: Gin and Smell
Smell or olfaction is among the most ancient of our senses. In order to smell better, it seems obvious that you have to practice smelling. Children do this. We are surrounded by smells but have stopped paying attention to them.
Hindustan Times: Science in the City
Here is a fairly stunning statistic, to use the tempered language of science. In the 2023 Nature Index of the top science cities globally, only one Indian city made it to the top 100. Guess which one? Bengaluru.
WisdomCircle: Course Correction
Having someone hold a mirror to your face is the hardest thing to....well, face. But if you are lucky, you will have at least one friend who will do it for you. I write about this.
Tamil Food: for Mint Lounge
In the effort to serve up history while infusing it with storytelling, chefs are mining journals and literature, meeting home cooks and local eatery owners, and tracing little known ingredients and recipes.
Hindustan Times: Artists in Bangalore
Even though I have lived in Bangalore for nearly 20 years, there are certain parts of the city that are inaccessible to me, mostly because I did not grow up here.
Sommelier India: Blind Tasting
I am organising– and attending– my first blind tasting for The Wine Connoisseurs– a club that I am part of.
Hindustan Times: street & luxury Bangalore
Anyone who says Bangalore is an expensive city has not been to Shivaji Nagar in the evenings.