On a whim, I decided to go to Warsaw from Krakow and spent around six hours in the city (of which one was spent trying to figure out its tram lines). Warsaw is large, spread-out and has the ‘big-city vibes’ when compared to Krakow. The entire city was rebuilt after the Second World War. After … Continue reading Warsaw Notes
Polish Jews were the largest Jewish community in Europe before the war. Out of an estimated population of 3.3 million, close to 3 million were finished off by the Nazis. In Auschwitz, 1.1 million (of which Jews were a million and the rest Poles, Romas, gypsies, homosexuals and Soviet PoWs) were slaughtered between its establishment … Continue reading Auschwitz-Birkenau Notes
Krakow was a 7-hour journey by train from Berlin. The previous day, the Ukrainians had carried out an audacious strike on Russia’s strategic bombers, and there was a lot of online chatter about Putin contemplating a nuclear response. And here I was, chugging along in the direction of Ukraine. Fearing nuclear annihilation twice in four … Continue reading Krakow Notes
When Napoleon entered Berlin, he is believed to have remarked: “Six months of rain, six months of snow—and this is what these fellows call Fatherland?”. I was in Berlin for a few days earlier this month. While I wasn’t in awe of the city, the sheer sense of history surrounding the place was overpowering. The … Continue reading Berlin Notes
Ikiru: This 1952 Kurosawa movie is probably one of the best movies to be made on bureaucracy. A paper pusher, on receiving a cancer diagnosis, decides that getting a pending application for a children's park cleared, would be the greatest achievement of his life. And his tireless efforts moving from department to department form the … Continue reading What I Watched – May 2025
When the Russians entered Berlin in 1945, the most feared words for a woman in Berlin were ‘‘Frau, komm’ (Woman, come)! For Antony Beevor, the occupation of Berlin by the Russians resulted in the ‘greatest phenomenon of mass rape in history’. Close to 100,000 women in the city were raped irrespective of their age. Frederick … Continue reading ‘Frau, komm’, the Berlin Airlift and the Himalayan Hump of WWII
You need money to run a country. And if you’re managed by Communist Russia, it’s just a matter of time before the you go bust. In the 80s, East Germany (or the German Democratic Republic (GDR)) faced this predicament and resorted to all possible ways to manage this crisis. Two fascinating exports were arms and … Continue reading ‘Comrades and Cash’
“Two unlikely foes end up in love, and all ends well, after the hero, who is treacherously made to assume that his fiancée is unfaithful, repents when the culprits are caught.” This can be a one-line summary of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. I could easily think of so many Bollywood movies around this plot. … Continue reading Much Ado About Nothing
Ever wondered why we never tickle adults? Tickling can be violent, humiliating, sexual and rarely playful. Its always an act that dwells in a liminal space. It mirrors the ambivalence of most of our sexual and emotional experiences. One can never tickle oneself. Tickling requires the other and often happens at the boundaries between the … Continue reading On Tickling
Apparently, this is what qualifies as a pastoral comedy – one which has a countryside setting, rustic simpletons and displays a clash between the cosmopolitans and the rest. Of all of Shakespeare’s plays, AYLI is the most representative of this genre. I understand why this is not rated as among his best. The bard's fascination … Continue reading As You Like It
