Feasting and fasting
I am writing this as I face laddus, barfis, badam chocolates, and mixture. Oh, the irony. Denial is good in principle, but is it better than an extra cup of coffee? Shoba Narayan October 19, 2014 Updated: October 19, 2014 [...]
Suhas Mahesh
Suhas Mahesh talks about the pleasures of Sanskrit and physics. Thank you Suhas! When I contacted Suhas Mahesh, he wanted to talk about three things. 1. Can Sanskrit as a language be removed from its religious roots. Is that possible? 2. [...]
Hotel Mercer, Barcelona
Now that the Barcelona piece is out, I thought I'd upload some photos. Writers are closet photographers.
For Eat Stay Love on Barcelona
Barcelona is the gateway to the rich Catalan culture and cuisine
Old age
What’s the best way to navigate your way through old age? Shoba Narayan October 15, 2014 Updated: October 15, 2014 06:31 PM My mind has recently been full of sobering thoughts about death, taxes and ageing and the question of [...]
The big brooming business: for Mint Lounge
The big brooming business An acquaintance of mine, Chantal, called from New York the other day with a request: she needed brooms; lots of them. Could I source them from India? Chantal is a gaunt French-Algerian chain smoker. She says [...]
HumRaag
Chitra Srikrishna is a classical carnatic singer. She spent many years in the Bay area, which is why you haven't heard of her. She is a fantastic concert-level performer. Chitra and I collaborate on a show/performance called Hum Raag. The [...]
Procrastination
I have learnt how to procrastinate with furious efficiency Shoba Narayan October 7, 2014 Updated: October 7, 2014 05:40 PM It began innocently enough and took a fairly standard trajectory. Prodded by stray comments from the spouse, a sibling, a [...]
What is Chitra Kavya?
I don't know about you, but I know precious little about Indian poetry. I have heard of Kalidasa but that's pretty much it. As a matter of fact, I don't know very much about poetry--let alone Indian poetry. In the [...]
Train Diary 4
The last of my beloved train diaries. For now. Train diary No.4: strangers and friends There are two types of people who travel on Indian trains: extrovert and introvert Shoba Narayan There are two types of people who travel on [...]
For British Airways magazine on Diwali Food
What Indians feast on during Diwali.
Train Diary 3 for Mint Lounge
Why do so few people talk to their fellow travellers on planes and why do some many talk to their neighbours on trains? I think it is because we view planes as mobile offices while train travel is time away from work; more like a vacation; a time to exhale and take stock; a time for diffused thought rather than focus; a time to relax. Planes produce the opposite effect. With no interruptions from colleagues or relatives, we pull out our computers and phones and get work done.