So many of Marilyn Monroe’s photographs are iconic. The one shot during the shoot of ‘The Seven Year Itch’ - in which her white dress billows up with the wind is probably the most famous picture of her. Her centerpiece appearance in the inaugural issue of Playboy in 1953 is also another popular one for … Continue reading Marilyn Monroe’s Literary Odyssey
As I had written earlier, I began the year with John Cheever’s Journals. I’ve never read any of his works before and only knew him as the master chronicler of the American suburban life. ‘Chekov of the suburbs' was how the literary world tagged him. After reading his journals, I now see him as someone … Continue reading Excerpts from Cheever’s Journals
Lepidopterology. What a beautiful word. In case you don't know, it refers to the study of butterflies. Earlier today, I chanced upon the philosopher Nigel Warburton’s piece on the aesthetic case for butterfly preservation – a quirky short piece that got me thinking of the most famous lepidopterologist of all time – Nabokov. I began … Continue reading Butterfly connections
Over the past decade, I’ve managed to read 80-100 books every year. Being someone who always felt that reading was just an interesting way of wasting time, I never felt the pull to write, share, discuss, explain or debate the content that I came across. During the pandemic, I discovered the geeky world of digital … Continue reading One Year of Blogging
2023 New Year’s Eve began with me rushing my little one to the Emergency department after she was scratched by a stray cat at home. Snowy, the culprit, has been a regular at our home in Kozhikode since the pandemic and has been very pally with my girls. I’ve never been fond of cats. For … Continue reading Feline Encounters of 2023
Image Source My daughters are ten and seven. In other words, they have just under a decade of their childhood remaining. As a parent, I have so far inculcated no noteworthy skill nor nurtured any particular talent in them. Not that I haven’t tried. The basketball coach lost his job, Bharatnatyam was ‘boring’, the art … Continue reading Helicopter Parenting
Despite completing four decades on earth, I’m yet to learn a single mantra or a complete prayer. While I'm fascinated with rituals each time I see them, I’ve never felt the need to bow down to them or worry about not giving them adequate ‘respect’. I’m convinced that the hold that religion has over our … Continue reading On Rituals
Earlier this month, while traveling to Bhopal, I was served this powdered concoction by the Indian Railways. Though it looked like chalk powder, the ‘food’ item in question was Knorr Instant soup and is a classic example of what goes as Ultra Processed Food aka UPF. According to the NOVA classification, processed food is categorized … Continue reading Ultra Processed Food
Should the Kohinoor be returned to India? Doesn’t the Rosetta Stone rightly belong to the Egyptians? The Elgin Marbles – the highlight of the British museum – should be reinstalled in the Parthenon, right? What are the Egyptian mummies doing in the British Museum? And why aren’t the Benin bronzes returned? These are all fraught … Continue reading Museums and Repatriation
We live in a world that places a premium on creativity. Companies expect their employees to be creative, parents want their children to become creative, mayors want to convert their cities to creative hubs, translators want to be acknowledged for their creative skills and artists strive to express their unique visions through creative work. But … Continue reading The Cult of Creativity
