the flames lunged up, their ends tapering, blowing, dancing, impatient and in a rush to catch the khoi. the parched rice, light, plump and crisp white, had just started to slide off the winnowing fan. it floated down, a lacework of shimmering grain. a streak of fire shot forward and caught a khoi. there was a spark of light, then it was gone. a flash of heat hit her face. the sound of the khoi crackling as it burnt shot…
singapore’s mrt trains are super efficient, despite occasional breakdowns. they’re clean, fast, no nonsense. they zip around smoothly underground, overground, ferrying commuters from early in the morning till late at night, every single day. i don’t usually rush to get pictures of one of them. but just heard that a train is all decked up for diwali, or deepavali as it’s called here by the large tamil community, and decided to go find it today. singapore has a local indian…
“you start building the sukka the day after yom kippur,” my husband said. we used to live in a house those days and there was a perfect spot by the koi pond, with wooden beams creating a sort of roof above and brickwork on the floor, for the sukka. sukkot, which is the plural of sukka, is a joyous festival of thanksgiving and more celebrated by jews across the world. sukka means a simple hut. after the exodus from egypt…
there are some things we never talk about. perhaps they threaten our sense of security, perhaps they challenge our limits of defining the world, perhaps they disturb us fundamentally, so we look away. right now in a television soap, an interesting – and i feel, courageous – story is on, which makes us stare point blank at one such thing. the third gender as the law calls it, hijras as we have called them for as long as i can…
“where did you get this saree from?” i asked, when she came out of the room in this lovely light tangail. my mother was visiting me in singapore. she looked sort of pleased for i am sure she’d noticed the pique of interest in my voice. she said, she didn’t remember the name of the shop but she had decided to get herself some comfortable cotton sarees before coming here. so she had gone with one of her favourite cousins…
the world as i knew it surely changed just now. so my smooth suave deadly mistah bond is chewing pan bahar paan masala these days. he’s kissing it too. dum di dah dum di dah dum di dah dum… the bond theme saunters in into my head and does a cool pirouette. pan bahar is forever forever forevvvaaaah, plush velvet notes fill and swirl in my middle ear. this just did happen. pierce brosnan, the swish remington steele and our…
don’t know about you, but i am beginning to find kuch rang pyaar ke downright offensive. there are many things that don’t appeal but one thing is really getting to me. this crass divide between people who do and don’t eat meat is grotesque and sickening in tone. i am bengali and i eat fish, yeah. my own mami is a vegetarian from up, my mausa was a brahmin from up… never have i ever heard of such nonsense and…
the other afternoon, surfing channels looking for something to watch, i came upon a scene in bade bhaiyya ki dulhania that made me pause and watch. i honestly don’t remember what the scene was, but there was a silent intensity mixed with a beguiling amiability in the hero’s eyes, the heroine looked fey and was actually so, there was a mother on the upper floor of the house whose eyes were as eloquent as her son’s… the hero. there were…
my heart broke today when i opened world clock on my iphone after the latest 10 point whatever ios update. i was staring at a black panel instead of the lovely soft white one with clock faces on it, which i could change to numbers at a touch, if i so desired. now a grim black with reverse type and though the font is the same, uff the aggression of it in reverse. like an idiot, i pressed all sorts…
that year my father was the happiest man in all of assam, i’m quite sure. he had bought himself an ambassador mark II, a black one, and had driven it all the way from calcutta to duliajan in upper assam. somewhere near guwahati, the gear had seemed a bit unreasonable, but that hadn’t bothered him. a brand new black ambassador with upholstery in grey and red and that feeling of latest technology releases a sort of joy that a little…