At one of the places where I teach, many of the children are brought up in the belief that the teacher is next to God. They are silent in class, not bold enough to speak, rarely confident enough to tell me that they did not understand something. It’s a huge obstacle I have to surmount […]
Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater
Before going to Tadoba, we talked about the fact that sometimes, we see no animals at all. Two of us had been to wildlife sanctuaries before, and wanted everyone to be prepared for an experience that might prove to be disappointing if you only want to see a tiger. Just being in the forest has […]
Automated People
I went last evening for dance class, as usual. I’ve been going there for nineteen years, so I walked in as I always do, briskly, sure of where I wanted to go. An irate watchman surprised me by yelling out at me for walking in like that. “How can you just go in without making […]
A Problem I Never Solved
“This is my favourite! I like it more than you.” This argument always bewildered me as a child, and bewilders me even now. I can never know how much anyone else likes anything. The rose may be your favourite flower, but it may not be mine. Yet, I may like it more than you do, and […]
Flat-Hunting
I think flat-hunting is one of those jobs that is most tedious, yet most adventurous, when done alone. After one year in Calcutta, armed with my knowledge of Bangla (largely restricted to daily words like clothes, dishes, wash, pillow, etc.), I decided to hunt for a flat. Approaching brokers made me realise that my vocabulary […]
Thank you, Santa!
Yesterday, I went to my old school to meet my librarian and give her a copy of The Story-Catcher. She still had the book in her hand about half an hour later when children from class III were lining up to go into the library. One excited girl saw the book and exclaimed, “That’s The Story-Catcher, isn’t […]
Toto Funds the Arts
Long-listed (but not short-listed) three years in a row. Surely, that’s a record of sorts! For The Story-Catcher (now published) and Vanilla: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2011/01/toto-awards-2011.html For Ridhima and Sacrifice: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html For Laying an Old Ghost to Rest and Ethics: http://totofundsthearts.blogspot.com/2012/12/long-lists-for-toto-awards-2013.html
The Generation Gap
Children who know me as didi, a senior in dance class, often have trouble figuring out whether I belong to their generation or their parents’ generation. Sometimes, I have trouble with it too. I was teaching two children with exactly the same problem. Often, they believed that I was in their generation, on their side, so […]
Detective!
From the time I was about seven, I wanted a mystery to solve every vacation. It was not fair that only Enid Blyton people (for me, they were people, not characters) got to solve such convenient mysteries, with the additional advantage of barely getting older each time around. When our guide Vishwas started telling us […]
Surviving in the Jungle
Eight safaris with the same guide ensured that we became friends of sorts, and once he realised that three people out of five in the jeep understood Marathi, he opened up fifteen long years of experience to us. One fascinating safari was devoted to attacks by different animals, and how to save yourself. “If a […]
Tadoba
Our guide at Tadoba said, “All these people who come from big cities – Pune, Mumbai and all – they take photos of anything!” He laughed incredulously at me when I was awestruck by a hare bounding into the jungle, chased by a wild dog. “Khargosh?” he laughed. “Hehe…” But truly, for this urban creature, […]
An Old Lady in France
Having performed at Aix-en-Provence (close to Marseilles), and being readers of Dumas, we couldn’t not go to Marseilles and visit the Château d’If. We had read and heard enough about it to want to go and see how picturesque it was. We went to the tourist office and found out what we were supposed to do. […]
Pirated Books
I don’t like pirated books. I have repeatedly been very vocal and passionate about my criticism – I don’t like the quality of paper, I don’t like the quality of ink, I don’t like how cheaply reproduced it looks. All this, from the point of view of the reader. From the point of view of […]
Jeep Rides
Some people say that if you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere in the world. Others are more specific. They say that if you can drive in Calcutta, you can drive anywhere in the world. Some people are even more specific. They say that if you can drive in Calcutta and Darjeeling, you […]
The Eiffel Tower
I was not at all impressed when I first saw the Eiffel Tower. My problem with the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and the Mona Lisa is that they look just like the pictures. When you go and look at them, there’s nothing that you have not already seen or sensed, unlike, for example, when […]
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
I listened to Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan and they were beautiful. In fact, I listened to many musicians over the last few days, and enjoyed most. Yet, when I watched and listened to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan – again – I realised what makes me fall in love with him every time, year after […]
One-Arm-Distance
Children in dance class believe firmly that the closer they are to me the better I will be able to see them. I try every now and then – very ineffectively – to explain that this is not the case. “If you stand a little far, I can see you completely,” I explain. “Otherwise, I […]
Sawai Gandharva
Sitting at the bharatiya baithak on the second day of the Sawai Gandharva festival, I realised once again that for me, the festival is as much about the grand music as about watching people. There are all sorts there. People come with yoga mats, some get floor chairs for a back-rest, some come with all their picnic […]
My Name is Rose
I could say that Smarties Gold Medal winning author Sally Grindley’s book is about a Romanian gypsy being integrated into a dysfunctional recomposed English family. Orphaned during a road accident, she has to find her way into the affections of a money-hungry man, an attention-seeking girl and a guilt-ridden woman. She has to surmount the […]
Cool Cans
When cans of soft drinks were launched in India, they were both ridiculously expensive and ridiculously cool. I remember the summer holidays – four cousins in Bangalore, always hungry and always asking for ice-cream or cotton candy or, in the case of my cousins, soft drinks. I, sadly, did not like anything aerated, so I […]