Tony Askew, my super boss at BetzDearborn had an acerbic wit. Although he was British, he lived most of his life in America, and I guess, this was the reason, his humour was not the understated kind one normally sees with British people. He spent few years in India and we were fortunate to learn... Continue Reading →
Kalki Krishnamurthy, the famous Tamil Novelist is widely known for his magnum opus 'Ponniyin Selvan.' Actually one of his other novels - Sivakimiyin Sapatham (Sivakami's Vow) relates more to us because the novel is based in Mahabalipuram, the village/town where we grew up. Kalki's narration about any ancient city is so powerful it brings to... Continue Reading →
One of the quotes I like about Communism goes like this; "If you are not a communist at the age of 20, you haven't got a heart. If you are still a communist at the age of 30, you haven't got a brain. For me, the communist thoughts came at younger age, when I was... Continue Reading →
Vinay my nephew based in Toronto, Canada and I were chatting few Sundays back on WhatsApp video and somehow the conversation turned to some language howlers. He then mentioned an incident happened the previous day. He was checking the features of a mobile phone in a shop and the sales guy at the shop was... Continue Reading →
Maha Ganapathy and Mahatma Gandhi have something in common. Figures of both are drawn in million different ways and each one of them is easily recognizable. More about this in a minute. My Cousin Manogar or Mano Anna to us, narrated this story sometime in the early seventies. As every elder brother, he was a... Continue Reading →
I published a blog last year (What’s the Magic? You Asked Time to Stop!) where I have written about two great lyricists of Tamil Movies namely Kannadasan and Vali. I thought I would follow that up with couple of more songs from these great poets but never got around to it. You always need a... Continue Reading →
Arun Jaitley was probably the chief influencer for millions of Indian middle class, especially the English speaking ones, to become followers of BJP. He was well educated, a very successful lawyer and spoke more like a CEO of a large corporate than a street smart politician. Arun Jaitley was a student leader and a great... Continue Reading →
Kolkata or Calcutta is the most generous city in the world. Yes! You read it correctly. No typos there. It is the most accommodating city. It packs more human beings per square foot than most of the cities would do per square mile. Yet, it welcomes more people every day from its own state, the... Continue Reading →
Subramaniya Bharathi, one of the greatest poets of India wrote this poem which begins; "Let us dance, let us sing a hymn, that we got our freedom." What was so special about this? Well, he wrote the poem some thirty years before we actually got the freedom from the British rule. The very thought of... Continue Reading →
When I started my blog about three years back, I decided to stay away from writing about politics. The reason for this was simple. The blog would be read mostly by relatives and friends, who read them as a courtesy to me and not because I am a great writer. Their views and my opinion... Continue Reading →
