Fear caps our minds
I was at my neighbourhood grocery store last evening. The grocer is a very nice man, always at the forefront of all community activities. He’s extremely helpful, and was by my side, helping me organize my mother’s…
My pehli Diwali
We were still in that awkward phase, where we weighed our words before we spoke to each other. You never knew what the reaction to them might be, and you tread gently, still discovering each other. Arranged…
The meaning of freedom
The main road near my house has been dug up for major repair work. Vehicles have to navigate trepidatiously as only half the narrow road is available for movement. It is expected to take almost four months…
To pee or not to pee
It was a Sunday, but I had pending work piled up. So I decided to spend the morning in the office finishing off some work. At noon, as I exited the department, I noticed two middle-aged women…
The summer soap opera
In the summer of 2000, a new kind of soap opera invaded our television screens. Indian audiences, who were used to intense stories from the partition or funny sitcoms starring Satish Shah, Shafi Inamdar, Rakesh Bedi and…
The dazzling Sun temple at Modhera
I couldn’t have chosen a more significant day to visit the Sun temple in Modhera. I was there on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti. The temple’s intricate architecture dazzled my eyes, as much as the sun…
The Black-necked Stork: A near-threatened species
Only recently there was a hue and cry in the papers about a black-necked stork which was spotted with a ring around its beak in a wetland outside Delhi. Black-necked storks are large birds, which are classified as…
These walls will melt
“I would prefer to share the apartment with a woman— preferably an Indian or a Pakistani,” I wrote. I was sending an email to the Netherlands to request student accommodation. I was going to spend three weeks that summer at…
When patriotic songs rent the air
It is the 15th of August. India is bathed in the colours of the tricolour- saffron, white and green- as it celebrates its anniversary of freedom from the British imperial powers. From dawn to dusk, you hear…
Hiuen Tsang and his pilgrimage of discovery
Indians traditionally have never been good at recording history. Knowledge was often transmitted through the oral tradition. Most of what we know about our ancient history comes from the writings of foreign travellers. Hiuen Tsang was one…
