Few in India have shown the gumption that actor Naseeruddin Shah did to call out those in India celebrating the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In a video he said, “Even as the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan is cause for concern for the whole

We’ve been uplifted, and the icing on the cake was the calm, confident, graceful gold medal-winning demeanour of Neeraj Chopra. So young, so dignified in execution and victory. Then came news of some people ‘celebrating’ the defeat of the women’s hockey team in the semi-final. They stood

All of us have stories to share from our experiences and we recount them, sometimes deadpan, sometimes blended with mirch masala and a crush of kasuri methi for the general listening pleasure. Among my mother’s all-time favourite stories concerned the golden-voiced, maverick yet endearing musician M Balamuralikrishna.

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…’ says Maria in The Sound of Music as she strums her guitar in the gorgeous outdoors of Austria in an attempt to teach her seven Von Trapp wards how to sing. In the case of

Early April, I returned to The Library Book months after having inserted a bookmark to indicate where I had stopped reading. Some of you may remember the name: it’s a book by Susan Orlean about a massive fire that was deliberately set off at the Los Angeles

For a long time, when I pushed open the curtains in the morning, I saw a small white cat sitting curled up beneath the coconut tree, staring intently at me, almost as though we had an ‘otherly’ connection. Or is it earthly? My son’s friend, for instance,

In the backdrop of the Indian cricket team winning the recent Test series in Australia, thus lifting spirits, it is logical to showcase a cricket-related book. I have picked The Commonwealth of Cricket by Ramachandra Guha, a personal memoir by a historian with a passion for the

All these relations originate from these houseboats of   ours. Don’t you see how many letters I receive? Letters come from far-off countries across the oceans, where I can never reach. Is there any corner of our own country where we don’t have acquaintances? All this is possible

I have a young friend, Apuurva, who is as crazy about books as I am. The other day I messaged her and in the course of our chat exchange, mentioned that I was reading ‘a fantastic book called The Library Book by Susan Orlean.’