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Varsha Seshan

Remembering, Mourning, Celebrating

June 21, 2021 by Varsha Seshan 3 Comments

I’ve taken a while to write about Raghavan uncle. There’s so much to say, so much to process. People call and ask me how Mythili Mami is, how everyone is. And each time I talk to someone, I remember another anecdote, another special moment with Uncle. Because there were just so many of them in […]

Filed Under: Dance, People Tagged With: Academy of Indian Dances, R.S. Raghavan

Books and Important Conversations

April 21, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

No, I don’t believe that every book needs to teach us something. Absolutely not. I read to laugh, have fun and unwind. Yet, every so often, I come across a book that invites discussion and makes me think. At my reading programme for ages 9 and 10, we’re reading Flying with Grandpa. Yesterday, we were to […]

Filed Under: Books, People, Workshops Tagged With: Alzheimers, book club, dementia, Flying with Grandpa, reading programme

Indywood Media Excellence Award

September 25, 2016 by Varsha Seshan 2 Comments

My father Sekhar Seshan received the Indywood Media Excellence Award for magazines at the Indywood Film Carnival held at Ramoji City, Hyderabad! The Indywood Film Carnival is a four-day festival with fifteen major events, including Golden Frame Awards, International Film Business Awards and Indywood Excellence Awards.

Filed Under: People Tagged With: Indywood Media Excellence Award, sekhar seshan

Kayani Bakery

January 16, 2016 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

If you have not been to Kayani Bakery on a Saturday afternoon, you cannot have any idea what it’s like. I cannot describe the way people crowd around the counter that they can reach, and around the counters that they cannot. I cannot describe how the red-faced men behind the counter serve customer after customer, cheerfully ignoring […]

Filed Under: People Tagged With: Kayani Bakery, Pune

Of Education and Breaking Traffic Rules

October 26, 2014 by Varsha Seshan 4 Comments

My signal turned green. I began to move – and banged into a motorcycle going the wrong way, and breaking the signal into the bargain. With my hand and foot mildly grazed, I was more than a little angry. I had not yet noticed that my bike was damaged, or I would have been still […]

Filed Under: People

Diwali

October 24, 2014 by Varsha Seshan 1 Comment

We were in mourning this Diwali for my grandfather who died earlier this year. I remember, as a child, feeling so bad for people in mourning. I remember someone telling me about her father-in-law’s brother’s death, because of which the entire family was in mourning. And I remember feeling a little guilty about thinking about how pointless it […]

Filed Under: People Tagged With: diwali

Great-Great Grandmother

July 21, 2014 by Varsha Seshan 3 Comments

Anyone on Facebook knows that babies are born all the time. Pictures are put up and everybody makes appropriate appreciative comments. But not everyday is a great-great grandmother born. I had the privilege of knowing my great-grandfather, who lived to be a 105. His amazing life spanned from 1895 to 2000. He supported Gandhi during […]

Filed Under: People

My Favourite Female Characters in Fiction

May 13, 2014 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

A question that always bothers me when I’m writing is whether I should concentrate on plot or character. Plot has the power to transport me, make me gasp and thrill me. But characters… Ah, they’re the people who become lifelong friends. 1) Pollyanna: Too good to be loved, but how I love her! She should be a […]

Filed Under: Books, People Tagged With: character, fiction, reading, story

Goodbye Gurukul

April 30, 2014 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I had decided what I would write about today, but was moved to tears more than once by everything students and colleagues from Vishwashanti Gurukul said to me, wrote to me and gave me. One student said, “I used to hate Shakespeare, but you made me fall in love with Macbeth.” Another confessed, “I have […]

Filed Under: Children, People Tagged With: school

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!

April 23, 2014 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

An achievement I sometimes hide is that I won two medals for having topped a course on Shakespeare. I hide it because despite the medals, I can’t quite say that I know much about Shakespeare. It was a course where we studied about Shakespeare without studying texts. The thing about Shakespeare is that he’s such a grand […]

Filed Under: People Tagged With: medal, shakespeare, varsha seshan

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

March 7, 2014 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

So many TED talks make me chuckle and nod in agreement that I wish to express so strongly! “I agree!” I want to say. “Oh, I agree, I agree, I agree a thousand times over!” Sometimes, I think, “And I have more to add to that. Think about this, in the same context. I’ve felt […]

Filed Under: People Tagged With: TED

My Grandfather – R.I.P.

February 2, 2014 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

On Friday, I decide to spend the night at my grandfather’s place. He sleeps at 8 o’ clock or so, so when I get there around 10, he is asleep. At 10:20, I hear him getting out of bed. He shuffles past my room and goes to the kitchen. I hear the balcony door creak […]

Filed Under: People

No School

December 19, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Winter is here! Cold face, cold hands, cold feet… Ah! It’s lovely! The first morning that fog descended on our school was almost surreal. It was not Pune; it could not be Pune! Cold face and all the rest, sure, I knew all that. But that kind of fog? It was as if we were […]

Filed Under: People Tagged With: school

Independence Day

August 17, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I have a dear friend who is half-French, half-Brazilian. She’s been living in India for about five years now, and is a unique blend of several cultures. Here’s what she said about the 15th of August, 2013. How I feel during Independence Day…  So today is Independence Day and I went for Flag hoisting in […]

Filed Under: People Tagged With: India

A Tribute: Prem Jeevan

August 12, 2013 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

I met her twice. Two memorable times. I know nothing or next to nothing about Osho, but once I had the pleasure of dropping this formidable lady, Prem Jeevan, to Koregaon Park. I had a long ride with her, during which she told me about her life, her daughters, and her association with the Osho […]

Filed Under: People