Telling Tales: Seethasharan, superstar
The ‘it’ factor. This is what makes a superstar stand out from the rest of us. Repeated attempts by the learned ones haven’t resulted in its decoding – yet. If the at first theoretically postulated God Particle was found to actually exist, then some day the ‘it’ factor too will be revealed to inhabit probably […]
Telling Tales: Choying Drolma, the ‘singing nun’
The world knows Ani Choying Drolma as ‘the singing nun’. But Ani (honorific for ‘nun’) was at first an accidental nun. “I did not join the monastery out of any divine calling,” she says with all the nonchalance of an everyday fact. “My father used to abuse me physically and I joined the Nagi Gompa […]
Telling Tales: Koul, the Kashmiri Pandit in Kathmandu
This is the first in an occasional series ‘Telling Tales’ which are stories of people from my different journeys. On a coarse sheet of paper Koul drew some lines and circles. “Here,” he said pointing to the lines, “are electric posts with wires.” “And these,” he said tapping the hurriedly-drawn circles, “are birds. They are […]
Clouded views and blue certificates: Is it worth it?
Dramatic translucent smoke billowed out of the open cockpit doors into the narrow aisle. I espied the numerous shiny consoles and knob-headed levers fading into a thickening blanket from where I sat with my cameraman Santosh. My co-passengers, mostly pilgrims from Hyderabad and Mumbai began to panic. The startled murmurs reached a feverish crescendo to […]
Mango showers and the ‘real finance minister’
Every weather pattern has a name. And used to have a timeframe as well. The recent rains – which we all very clinically called ‘pre monsoon showers’ – used to be ‘mango showers’ earlier, helping in the ripening of mangoes. An outcome of thunderstorms over the Bay of Bengal, they fell in April and were […]
Rain, rain don’t go away
With so many factors at play, it was best not to try and analyse what caused the slight drizzle that cooled off a sweltering Delhi on an early June afternoon. Instead I, along with hundreds of other Delhi-ites, focussed on enjoying it in its most famous landmark, the India Gate, well into midnight. The manicured […]
Chronicles of a capital monsoon: The beguiling bit
The wheeling months go round And back I come again To the baked and blistered ground And the dust-encumbered plain And the bare hot-weather trees And the Trunk Road’s aching white; Oh, land of little ease! Oh, land of strange delight! From the diary of a member of the British Army Engineers, walking from Calcutta […]
Homestays and other cases for experiential tourism
Did god create the beautiful land first and then peopled it with a tribe to match? Or did He do it the other way around? A niggling question when you are in Nagaland. My initiation to the charm took place outside Kohima – with yummy-ripe pineapples and a sleepy smile by the roadside. I was […]
352 – Lessons from my dad
A Father’s Day Special – for that great guy who first put my hand to wheels, who made travel grow on me. And who still drives with two chairs so that he and mom can sit and take in the scenery wherever. After my studies, after I got my first job, after my first marriage, […]