The Fabelmans: I wasn't too keen to watch it but am happy that I did. Spielberg based it on his own childhood and had to wait for his parents' death to finally make it. It's not easy to make a movie in which your mother's infidelity is and the subsequent unraveling of the family is … Continue reading What I Watched – July 2026
Forster should be more widely read. After having finished ‘A Passage to India’, ‘A Room with a View’ and now ‘Howards End’, I can confidently say that he’s one of the sharpest chroniclers of social relationships in the late Victorian and Edwardian era. Howards End is firmly rooted in the Edwardian era where the three … Continue reading Forster’s ‘Howards End’ and the Intellectual Life
Earlier this week, an Airbus 350-1000ULR set the world record for the longest ever flight by a commercial aircraft by being airborne for 24 hours and 24 minutes and covering a distance of 23,075 kms, flying from Melbourne to Toulouse. According to the flight tracking provider Flightradar24.com, the trip was the second most-tracked flight on … Continue reading Project Sunrise
In 1881, America was a relatively young country while Europe was associated with grandeur, heritage and an aristocratic culture shaped by centuries of history. The psychological complexity of America’s engagement with this was the heart of Henry James’ fiction. He was the brother of the equally famous psychologist William James and the two of them … Continue reading Isabel Archer in ‘The Portrait of a Lady’
Shri Nathadi Guruguho in Mayamalavagowla by Muttuswami Dikshitar Yarukkaghilum bhayama in Begada by Subbaraama Iyer Nenarunchera in Simhavahini by Thyagaraja RTP in Thodi followed by Kartikeya Kangeya Gowri by Papanasam Sivan Concluded as expected with pieces by Sreenarayana Guru, Tagore, a piece in Behag and Dikshitar's Nottuswarams. He was in top form and accompanied by … Continue reading T.M. Krishna at O.P Jindal Auditorium, New Delhi
Since PVR Priya had the only decent IMAX screen nearby, I had to book a 1145 pm show on a weekday for the 'Odyssey'. The movie was disappointing and failed to move me. Nolan just kept moving from episode to episode without any deep engagement with the personality of Odysseus, that Homer wrote about. Apart … Continue reading Nolan’s Odyssey
I thought that the 250th anniversary celebrations may be a good time to read up on the Revolution and get a better handle on the event. Gordon S. Wood’s ‘The American Revolution: A History’ and the great Ken Burns’ 12 hour, six-episode documentary which came out last year were two excellent points to start. Despite … Continue reading The American Revolution
Juliet was 14 and Romeo probably just a few years older! Little wonder that both of them ended up dead by the end of the play. The political violence of Verona – the feuding clans, a weak ruler and the rivalry spilling on to the streets, is too hard to miss. Both the adaptations that … Continue reading Romeo and Juliet
In Greek mythology, Zeus transforms himself into a swan and has sex with Leda. Through the union, Leda lays eggs from which emerge Helen (yes, the Helen of Troy), Castor, Pollux and Clytemnestra. In art, especially during the Renaissance, this copulation (rape is a more appropriate word I guess) was attempted by many artists. Years … Continue reading Leda and the Swan
Emily Wilson’s translation of Homers ‘Odyssey’ is excellent and I was engrossed in the epic over the last few days. Around a decade back, I had read the Robert Fagles translation and even after this reading my opinion of the epic hasn’t changed much. The Odyssey is overrated. I also understand that a lot of … Continue reading Some thoughts on ‘The Odyssey’
