The National2020-06-17T19:48:20+05:30

THE NATIONAL, ABU DHABI COLUMNS ON RELATIONSHIPS, FINANCE, POLITICS, GENDER, FASHION AND POLITICS 358 posts
708, 2015

Buy my book

August 7th, 2015|Books|

Just got my ten author copies of Katha yesterday.  They are beautifully packaged.  Small enough to fit in a purse.  It releases August 28th but you can pre order at the below sites.  Infibeam has done the best job of [...]

408, 2015

Katha Review

August 4th, 2015|Books|

Thank you Vijaya Pushkarna, for the generous review.  I am supposed to have a Twitter conversation with you or The Week tomorrow, August 5th from 4 to 5. Have never done this before.  Nervous. KATHA: TELL A STORY, SELL A DREAM [...]

2907, 2015

Flora and Fauna in Sanskrit literature

July 29th, 2015|Poetry|

For any nature-lover, this video interview with Naresh Keerthi, who is a doctoral student at NIAS (National Institute of Advanced Studies), Bangalore is a treat.  I loved his lecture on the same topic here and got in touch with him afterwards. [...]

2507, 2015

Memories are made of buttermilk for Mint Lounge

July 25th, 2015|Comment Essays, Food | Drink|

My first memory of buttermilk is warmth and darkness.  I must have been five or six years old.  Still confused by the mists of sleep, I walked into my grandmother’s kitchen, drawn by a comforting swishing sound.  My grandmother was sitting on the floor, her legs spread-eagled and resting on the wall.  Soft light filtered through the window in front of her. In between her legs was a heavy mud pot that was held firmly in place by a coiled towel.

1007, 2015

Love Chennai. Had fun writing this piece.

July 10th, 2015|Travel|

FRI, JUL 10 2015. 03 44 PM Anger management at a Chennai cinema How Shoba Narayan queued up to watch the latest Tamil indie and dished out multi-coloured combs to aunties I tried my anger management technique when I was [...]

2706, 2015

Birds in culture– the last of the four part series that I hugely enjoyed writing.

June 27th, 2015|Comment Essays, Nature | Wildlife|

Everyone says that bird-watching requires patience. I don’t think so. I think that the pleasure of bird watching comes from the questions you ask. You can watch a crow and try to figure out why it is cawing at that moment. You can listen to the variety of calls that a common mynah makes and try to see if there is a pattern. I watch the birds come and go in the trees in front of my home and see if there is a reason or pattern that they follow when they sit down and take off.

2106, 2015

So of course I had to write about yoga: for Mint Lounge

June 21st, 2015|Comment Essays, Wellness | Spirituality|

Actually, my editor suggested that I write about yoga on yoga day. It is here and below It is a little disconcerting, but ask yourself this question: what unites India? I have tried asking this question in various forums. It is [...]

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