Gandhi: Man vs. Superman

Every year on the 30th of January, I write something on Mohandas Karamchand “Mahatma” Gandhi. And every year, just as faithfully, I delete it. What, after all, can I possibly add to that small cottage industry that has sprung up around The Gandhi Biography? I don’t have the numbers with me, but I can easily [...]

Gift of the Pickle Addict

From the Kitchen at Blogpourri:
CRANBERRY PICKLE
1. Choose firm cranberries
2. Clean (chop off any dry ends near the stems) and dry them completely. There should be no water because water tends to rot the berries and the pickle will get spoilt.
3. Chop the berries into halves
4. Add salt, red chilli powder (paprika) to taste.
5. Add a [...]

My Favorite Mystery

Hugh Laurie
Then:

And now:

Estuary!!

The World Cup Cometh

*Groan*
All right! All right! I’m sorry I groaned. Pardon me for not looking forward to a month or more of sweaty men running around after a little ball all day.
All day, people! What is wrong with you? Anyway, that Nike ad is pretty funky. I guess I’ll just have to take my entertainment where I [...]

Temper Tantrum

On January 25, 2007, Moninder Singh and Surinder Koli, prime accused in the gruesome Nithari killings were assaulted by an angry crowd of lawyers and bystanders when produced in court. When asked about it, the lawyers of Ghaziabad, where the incident took place, had two differing views to offer: one section maintained that the lawyers [...]

Madhur Jaffrey Climbs Mango Trees

You don’t often run across a memoir that includes recipes for lamb samosas, tamarind chutney and fresh lemonade Indian-style. Equally rare are cookbooks capable of transporting you back seventy years on a culinary journey that mixes social commentary with a bit of modern history. But when you’re Madhur Jaffrey, cooking maven and media personality, this [...]

I’m Not a Ho

In other households, when the phone rings in the middle of the night it usually bodes no good. In my house, it means some dizzy friend has once again forgotten about the concept of time difference. “But it’s morning in India,” one such recent caller said.
“Yes,” I replied. “Too bad I’m in New York.”
Then [...]

The Great Desi Marriage

I know plenty of married people, of course. It’s just that they tend to be people I have only a slight acquaintance with or relatives or random young people my mother points out at gatherings and temples with the expressed wish that one day she would see her own offspring in such a state. In [...]

Review: Engaging India

According to its blurb, former US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott’s book ‘Engaging India: Democracy, Diplomacy and the Bomb’ is a “racy read, the James Hadley Chase of diplomacy”. It is certainly a welcome departure from the dreariness and self-importance of the average political memoir.
‘Engaging India’ is primarily a serious examination of the role [...]

Jayalalithaa - Machiavelli’s Amma

Chances are you’ve recently heard of that very tepid storm in a coffee mug – the arrest of the Kanchi Seer. The woman behind it all, “The Enlightened Leader” of the southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu, Jayaraman Jayalalithaa, is one of those rare specimens – an interesting politician. Much like a car crash, she [...]