The mausoleum of Gond kings and Shri Anchaleshwar temple
Just inside the Gond fort, near the Anchaleshwar gate in Chandrapur, is the ancient Anchaleshwar temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It was built in the 16th century. But what is more interesting than the temple are the…
Hansal Mehta’s Simran: a letdown
Coming from Hansal Mehta- director of films like Shahid and Aligarh- Simran is a letdown. It is a tale of an NRI gujju hotel maid Praful Patel who is ambitious and impulsive. (I couldn’t but think of…
Hiking in the Bernese Oberland: Bachalpsee
On this trip we dumped our predecided agenda and chose to do non-touristy stuff. Step one was booking a room and backpacking to the idyllic settings of the Swiss village of Grindelwald. Surrounded by the beautiful peaks of…
Em and the big Hoom: Jerry Pinto’s poignant novel
“Imagine you are walking in a pleasant meadow with someone you love, your mother. It is warm, and there’s just enough of a breeze to cool you…… Suddenly, your mother steps into a patch of quicksand. The…
My marathon bird watching session!
What a glorious day of bird watching today has been! Ten hours of watching a whole cavalcade of birds, and all from within the comfort of my bedroom. How was that possible you might ask? Here is…
Selection Day: Aravind Adiga’s third novel
‘Selection Day’ is Booker Prize winner Aravind Adiga’s third novel. Published by Fourth Estate, the book is set in Mumbai with cricket as its backdrop. Like his first novel, ‘The White Tiger’, Adiga successfully delves into the…
Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Begum Jaan’: Powerful and nuanced
Several versions in cinema describe the impact of the partition of India in 1947 – some are grim, some intense, while others are emotional. Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Begum Jaan‘ is a metaphorical story which offers a completely different…
Oriental Magpie-Robins: A black and white romance!
Romance is in the air! And the colour of romance is not red- it is black and white! First it was the Asian koels with their jugalbandi which stole the show. But these days in Sevagram, the…
Nil Battey Sannata: A good directorial debut
Ever since I heard of it, I have wanted to see this film, which has been making waves in film festivals across the world. First, because the title “Nil Battey Sannata” didn’t make any sense to me.…
The peacock’s honk
It was getting warmer and I was planning to leave Arogyadham when I heard a loud noise. It was loud and ugly: like a donkey’s bray. I ignored it. But then I heard it again. It was…
