Dead cow in the Ganga: for Mint on Sunday
Kashi is endlessly fascinating as is the Ganga, the river of India as Jawaharlal Nehru famously said. I just loved writing this piece. BIG STORY Sun, 28 Feb 2016 HOW BLIND FAITH IS CHOKING THE GANGA Photo: Shoba Narayan The [...]
Ways of Seeing at Indian Institute of Science
Teaching sculpture to 115 bright scientists is-- shall we say-- an interesting if challenging exercise. Told the class to bring in a quick piece of art that they created. Was pleasantly surprised. Lots of drawings; lots of science connections and [...]
Kashi, Ganga and the politics of religion
I enjoyed writing this four part series for Mint on Sunday. Kashi is a dream-like place. Seems to belong to another time, and yet to all time. The photos are mine too :) OF DEAD COWS AND THE GANGA: [...]
Napa Valley wines Part 1 for Mint Lounge
Nicholson Ranch was the last stop on Day 1. By then, Platypus Wine Tours had taken a group of us wine tourists to three Napa Valley wineries in California. Buena Vista, because it was the oldest; Robledo, because it was the first to be owned by a migrant Mexican worker; and Peter Cellars, because it was a one-man show by a transplanted Brit. They say Pinot Noirs are the hardest to grow, but really, it could apply to any varietal. Blame it on Sideways.
Love after fifty
Fifty by heart Love after 50 is a complex dance; it is also just habit Shoba Narayan Elizabeth Taylor and husband Richard Burton at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, 1963. Photo: SSPL/Getty Images Love after 50 is a loaded phrase: one that [...]
The art of collaboration between dancers, artists and social scientists
Rehearsals are a vicarious pleasure; a way of accessing the genius of performers without the pressure of a performance. A few arts institutions—the Lincoln Center in New York, for instance—accord the privilege of watching a rehearsal for a price. I am at Kamani at the behest of Minaakshi Dass, whose venture, India Heritage Desk, aims to discover the next Aditi Mangaldas or Malavika Sarukkai. Gauri Diwakar may be one candidate.
O&M creates quirky, edgy campaign for Rajasthan Tourism
01/18/16--02:14: MUMBAI: The Rajasthan government will be launching a multi-year, multi-modal and multi-narrative domestic and international tourism campaign on 15 January, 2016 and has set aside a corpus in excess of Rs 100 crore for the same. Over the [...]
Rajasthan Tourism’s new campaign
How Ogilvy Turned Rajasthan Into Rohansthan, Nehasthan, Meerasthan, Jennysthan... By Snehojit Khan , afaqs!, Mumbai | In Advertising | January 20, 2016 Ogilvy has created a new logo and a multimedia ad campaign titled 'Jaane Kya Dikh Jaaye' for [...]
Thanks for the plug, Ashville
"And, while there was precedent for a memoir with recipes (Elizabeth Bard’s Picnic in Provence, Shoba Narayan’s Monsoon Diary and an entire Goodreads list dedicated to “books shelved as cookbook-memoir”), “the cooking lessons with Jonah linked me to the way food was central to both of our stories,” Smith says."
Heavenly breakfast in Varanasi: Mint Lounge
South Indians, or should I say Tamilians, can be cantankerous purists. No mixing tastes. No adding sugar to dal like the Gujaratis do; or adding jaggery to rasam like the Kannadigas do. Only one vegetable per sambhar; be it okra, brinjal or small onions. If you mix multiple vegetables, you are a caterer who is trying to palm off all the cheap vegetables available into one pot. These Tamilians ought to taste the pleasures of breakfast in Varanasi. It might change their minds.
The delights of wearing a sari: for Mint Lounge
This is going to be my year of regional styles of donning this garment. Just saw and loved Baji Rao Mastani. Nanditha Lakshmanan, Shilpa Sharma, Sudha Kanago, Deepa Krishnan, Ally Mathan, Jo Pattabhiraman, Chandra Jain, Geetha Rao, and all you [...]