How many of you remember reading William Saroyan in school? His essay Locomotive 38, The Ojibway, appeared in our class 11th or 12th (I can’t remember which) CBSE textbook. That was the start of my lifelong love affair with Saroyan. I’ve always repented for not saving those textbooks as literary gems in my library William […]
Breaking Bread With Yashica Dutt
Yashica Dutt did her Masters in Journalism from Columbia University, the same place Dr Ambedkar, the visionary light of the Dalits received his PhD from in the year 1927. When I read Yashica’s memoir I was disheartened. We cannot imagine….Casteism is India’s dirty blot. it has been going on for years without recourse to the […]
Carrot Halwa For Christmas
Except for the effort you’ve got to put into this halwa stirring away continuously to cook it, it’s really an easy peasy dish to make. Not too many ingredients either. But when you taste it you’ll feel like a king or a queen. Carrot halwa turns out delicious. Halwa is an Arabic word and the […]
Breaking Bread With Ruskin Bond
While most of us run a rat race to catch the fast train to nowhere, try to get a seat next to the latest hotshot, and keep up with the Joneses, Ruskin Bond is perfectly content to have Friends In Small Places (the name of one of his books). And, so charming is his world […]
Breaking Bread With Deepa Narayan
Reading Deepa Narayan’s book CHUP-Breaking The Slience About India’s Women started a fire in my belly. I travelled to my village while reading the book and I wanted to rip apart the orthodox customs there. Many women in my village still practice purdah or the custom of covering their heads and faces in front of […]
Breaking Bread With Shanta Gokhale
Shanta Gokhale’s writing is effortless, flowing like rich smooth cream and fresh as the scent of lemon. I don’t know why I didn’t discover her sooner. I’m making up for precious lost time. I read her book without a break. It was unputdownable. She was born a few years before both my parents, in 1939, […]
Breaking Bread With Jerry Pinto
Merry chocolate muffins in memory of Em.
Breaking Bread With R.K. Narayan
R.K. Narayan’s books are a delight to read. There is an endearing simplicity and innocence about his writing. A sweetness and an earthiness. He managed to be innocent and yet an astute observer of people at the same time. The beauty of Natayan’s writing was that his humor was gentle and he rarely ever came […]
Breaking Bread With Rahul Pandita
The pain and loss are heartrending. An entire community exiled in its own country. The anguish and the hurt, but no mention of this chapter of our recent history. Of brutality and savageness inflicted on Kashmiri Pandits whose only fault was, there was nothing to fault in them. Of human and political callousness at its […]
Stuffed Green Chillies
At last the rains are here in Ahmedabad. I’ve waited so long for them. It’s delightful to open my window and smell the frangrant wet earth after a parched summer. Feel the rain bearing winds upon my face and skin. See the trees shining as if they are brand new, all dressed in vibrant chlorophll […]
