Thinking like a rat
I walked into the laboratory that morning and was told that the hematology automated cell counter had stopped working. A few frantic calls and a day later, the technical person from the company came over and repaired…
Supine readers
It has been almost a month of reading thick Pathology tomes non-stop. As quizmaster, I had been preparing questions for a State level Postgraduate Pathology Quiz. I enjoy the process of discovery, and reading academic texts for…
The Braveheart
Much of my early childhood was spent in Sainik School Bhubneswar and then in Bangalore Military School, where my father headed the Zoology Departments. I can’t remember much of Sainik School, but memories of Bangalore are very…
The desert and the oasis
In the distance, She can hear The sound of the hoofs. The dust clouds billow She can no longer see. The sky turns grey As the dust spirals upwards. “I think I saw A man with a…
The business of beauty
On days when you feel exhausted and think you deserve to be pampered, you head to the spa. I would prefer to say ‘spa’ or ‘salon’ to sound sophisticated. But the unfortunate truth is that small towns…
Soof and Khaarek: Ways to select a bride?
“I hadn’t seen my wife before my wedding”, says Mukeshbhai. “But I was sent several samples of embroidery made by her. That told me so much about her.” We are at Kala Raksha in Sumrasar Sheikh village,…
Gully Boy: The divide and the angst
A young driver watches the owner’s daughter rush into the back seat of the plush car, her eyes streaming with tears. He shuts the door and drives the long drive back home in the silent night, craving…
Maata ni Pachhedi: Celebrating the Mother Goddess
Somewhere among the pages of a thirty year-old diary, which I maintained as a schoolgirl, I still have “Maata ni Pachhedi” scrawled. The diary had questions from Quiz Time and India Quiz, and everytime Siddhartha Basu asked…
Usha Uthup: The bad girl with Kanjeevaram sneakers
Dressed in a gorgeous Kanjeevaram silk saree, her trademark big bindi adorning her forehead, she climbs up the stage gingerly. She is 71 and her hair has streaks of grey. She looks the complete antithesis of what…
The Tree of Life insignia and Sidi Saeed Mosque
On my first trip to Ahmedabad, I was at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-A) for my niece’s convocation ceremony. IIM-A’s logo is the Tree of Life insignia. The insignia is derived from the intricate stone-carved window…
