Dhirde: A Maharashtrian crepe
It all started with my college batchmate and friend Pallavi Waikar asking me if I knew how to make dhirde (pronounced धिरडे). Now Pallavi is a Maharashtrian and is married to a Bihari. And we often exchange…
My saree stories: Part 16
This edition of my saree stories has hand woven sarees from Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Vidarbha. And a unique yarn. Have you heard of the phenkwa technique? Or futki yarn? Can you differentiate between…
SPB: Parva illa Sir, you will still be around
I grew up in Pondicherry. I distinctly remember one evening, when my English teacher, Mrs Hawkins, came up to my father and said that she had to take me to see Shankarabharanam. She really wanted me to…
Lost opportunities
“She told me that you had given her a hug that day.” I hear these words and my heart sinks. It is a feeling I find difficult to describe. Guilt. Regret. Shame. Did that mean so much…
The walk towards light
I might have easily ignored the Whatsapp forward which talked about India’s first visually impaired company secretary. But my eyes fell on the name. Turab Chimthanawala. Surely, it couldn’t be the little Turab I knew. It was…
My Saree Stories: Part 15
Welcome to yet another edition of my saree stories after a long break. This time there are legends and traditions and the history of unusual sarees. I’m sure you have heard of Baluchari, Chikankari and Ponduru khadi…
The joys of learning
Some years ago, I was part of a Fellowship programme where we were taken through a session on strengths-based leadership. I am usually very skeptical of these self-help kind of polls which give you a verdict after…
Gulabo Sitabo: A tale for fragile egos
Na jaane kya man mein aayi upar wale neBanwayi har ek choohe ki billi ek So go the lyrics of Gulabo Sitabo, Shoojit Sircar’s new directorial venture which released on Amazon Prime on June 12 2020. The…
My Saree Stories: Part 14
Time to talk about some more spectacular weaves of India in this edition of my saree stories. Read about the glorious heritage of the Patola saree, the Ponduru khadi, the Aayiram butta saree, the Jawariya daana saree,…
They don’t read statistics
Somewhere during the beginning of this pandemic I heard two streams of arguments at the workplace. The first was skeptics telling me that the fatality rate was less than 1% and people were overreacting. The other was…
