Last week I spent three days in Nashik and managed to get a glimpse of certain aspects of this fine city. Nashik has many claims to fame — from being India’s largest onion producer to its robust industrial base, currency press, artillery training center, pleasant climate, iconic Misal Paav, and of course, its well-earned reputation … Continue reading Nashik Notes
I got to hear Vivek Moozhikulam live for the first time this evening. He sang for two and a half hours at the Subh Siddhi Vinayaka Mandir in Mayur Vihar. I liked his voice and he justified his tag of a rising star of Carnatic Music. Sudhha Dhanyasi. (couldnt recognise the krithi he sang) Ganapathiye … Continue reading Vivek Moozhikulam at the Siddhi Vinayaka Mandir
At 1100 pages, Bleak House was my second 1000+ work that I tackled this year (the previous one being War and Peace). Bleak House is not Dickens’ most popular work but it’s a novel that’s been cited as his best by numerous critics. Its also his longest. I haven’t read Marx’s appreciation of Dickens but … Continue reading Dickens’ ‘Bleak House’
With great difficulty, Sruthi and I managed to reach the venue on time. The choice of organizing this in Dwarka was quite perplexing. Anyways, the Prince, with his typical wit, charm and humour took time to explain each piece. He sang for two hours accompanied by S.R. Vinu on the violin, B. Harikumar on the … Continue reading Prince Rama Varma at CCRT Auditorium Dwarka
Nineteen years after winning the Booker, Kiran Desai is back with a novel, - one that has once again made it to the Booker shortlist. ‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny’ at close to seven hundred pages kept me engaged primarily for the vast geographic and cultural landscape it covered. While we read of the … Continue reading The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Small Things Like These: The adaptation of Claire Keegan's Booker shortlisted novella was more or less true to the book. The plot revolves around a coal merchant's encounter with a girl at a Magdalene Laundry (the notorirous Catholic-run institution in Ireland, which triggers memories of his own mother's own precarious past as an unwed mother. … Continue reading What I Watched – October 2025
Errol Morris’ documentary on the life of John le Carre – The Pigeon Tunnel was a peek into the life of the probably the greatest spy novelist of all time. After watching it, I revisited my notes from his 2016 memoir of the same name, which I read three years back. The title refers to … Continue reading The Pigeon Tunnel
During my travels earlier this year, Jane Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’ was the book for the long train journeys. Austen was just nineteen when she wrote the first draft and published it when she was around 35. The book, like most of Austen’s works is a critique of English society during the early nineteenth century. … Continue reading Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’
When Joel Mokyr won the Economics Nobel this year, the chorus of appreciation for his work on Economic History was too loud to be ignored. So I picked up his ‘The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress’ which was published three and half decades ago. Mokyr’s core argument is that economic growth is … Continue reading Mokyr’s ‘The Lever of Riches’
In my line of work, one often witnesses the might of the Indian state. Yet its most comical manifestation is often found in the servile obsequiousness of the personal staff attending to government babus. When summoned, they stutter, stammer and words often fail them. The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.Our sport shall … Continue reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream
