My apartment is a goodish walk from the parking lot. So, I wasn’t too happy when I discovered after reaching home that I had forgotten my phone in the car. But I decided to make use of the opportunity to
Keys In the Snow
These past few days, the polar vortex brought the coldest temperatures in a generation to parts of the US and Canada. I’m now having second thoughts about spending a winter in Siberia. After a snowfall, I usually take along a
বিদায় ৰঞ্জিত ককাইদেউ … [Goodbye, Ranjit, elder brother …]
Once upon a time, it was the telegram that brought urgent news, good or bad, to family and friends in distant places. Now, a variety of instant messaging services have replaced the telegram that was once transmitted by a Morse
Nikol for the Nobel!
Eleven years ago, on the 9th May 2007, before a group protesting the jailing of a political prisoner, the impassioned speaker told the assembled crowd, “Victory is not achieved at once. Victory is achieved step by step.” The speaker was
70s’ Music – the Elixir of Life
One of the things that struck me soon after arriving in the US, was how Americans were constantly getting rid of things. No, this was not just the inevitable downsizing after retirement, but, more likely, making room for newer possessions.
The Guru and the Gun
There was a time I envied American children at school. The freedom of dress and opinion; The yellow school bus at the doorstep; The gym and sports and, most of all, The swanky halls of learning. We were regimented in
The Passing of Friends in the Digital Age
Around twenty-five years ago, after the death of a Swedish friend, I received a surprise package containing two notebooks from the executors of his estate. On deciphering the pages, painstakingly written in longhand, the books turned out to be the
Telefunken and Van Morrison
Telefunken and Van Morrison Growing up as a teenager in a small Indian town in the early 70s, the only medium for transmitted entertainment was the radio. TV had not yet reached my town in those days and cable television
An Armenian Christmas Story
An Armenian Christmas Story (involving three non-Armenians!) Earlier this year, when I was in Yerevan for a book signing event, I happened to connect with John B- through the ubiquitous Facebook, after seeing some interesting posts of his on Armenia.
A Taste of the Bangalore Literary Scene
In the matter of letters, yesterday was a red-letter day, for me here in Bangalore. First, I got to meet Pradeep Bahirwani, the author of The Youngest Daughter, a book set in the Khasi Hills, a place where I have