DISCORDANT NOTE

The concept of Mile Sur worked when born, failed when reborn. It can’t strike strike a chord with a generation which sees celebrities every day on the small screen Three decades separate two generations in India. One grew up on musical homilies on national integration on Doordarshan. The other trolls or fawns a cross-section of […]

BOHEMIA UNPLUGGED

Out in the streets of Europe, there is a underground life where rebels without a cause recreate the swinging sixties I have been backpacking to Europe, at least once a year, for the last six years. I meet friends and strangers, and lead a bohemian life, constantly on the move. I always feel, compared to […]

ON A DHOW OFF OMAN

Cruising down the Strait of Hormuz, you can only see the dolphins and the cliffs or take a safari around giant sculptured mountains “Wish I could enjoy and live life the way the dolphins here do,” laughs Diane as she relaxes on the sun deck of the wooden dhow – or the boat as it […]

SCENIC SPOTS THIS SUMMER

With holidays around the corner, here are five places close to Delhi that make you forget the madding crowd 1. Mangar Bani & Sohna On the Gurugram-Faridabad highway there is an ancient grove called Mangar Bani. Guarded zealously by the local Gujjar community, this is said to be the last sacred grove in the Aravallis. […]

LONELY IN A CROWD

A woman reveals her a-sex drive over a conversation in the nude Asexuality. This word has complex meanings, open to interpretation. But to avoid that discussion, the asexuality described here is when a human is not attracted enough to anyone sexually — none of the three genders. Not necessarily because the person is immune to […]

INDIA’S UMAMI BOMB

Hing, arguable the world’s smelliest spice is an olfactory shock for westerners but an integral part of Indian cooking Umami is a word that has been defined and in existence since 1908, but it is only lately — say the last two decades — that chefs, gourmands and food writers have been talking about it. […]

BEST FAVOURITES FOREVER

Let’s take a look at how various creatives around the world, from MIRA Nair to STEVE JOBS go about their clothing choices In all those years, whenever Steve Jobs walked down the grandstand at every Macworld conference to present a new offering from Apple to the world, there was one thing that stayed unchanged. It […]

NO SONGS FOR SUMMER

The Hindi film industry has produced very few songs for this season, compared to the other three seasons. Perhaps love is scorched by the tropical sun While literary scholars can argue what T S Eliot actually meant when he called April the cruellest month, it rings true for India. It’s not always about what April […]