tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1381284 2012-01-08T02:49:23-05:00 Short stories about the bad, the sad and the plainly mad. Other writings, too, as the mood strikes. TypePad tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330168e52bf2d3970c 2012-01-08T02:49:23-05:00 2012-01-08T03:27:56-05:00

Covering an area of over 130,000 square kilometers, India’s southern-most state has a variety of landscapes, terrains and habitats. There are beautiful, wave-lapped golden beaches and emerald green paddy fields; lush tropical forests and cool mountain ranges. There is a...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/jgJiDSnCAk8" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/01/the-poetic-landscapes-of-tamil-nadu.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833014e8ace98c1970d 2011-08-20T17:19:26-04:00 2011-08-20T17:08:04-04:00

For Kanchipuram, City of a Thousand Temples. Kailasanathar Temple Flanked by its belt of defensive jungles is that city Whose doors are never closed to those who seek the prize Lovely like the pericarp of the many-petalled lotus The navel...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/pIQzd8KFPzo" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/08/a-few-thousand-words.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e398233668883301538fa5ccf1970b 2011-07-04T21:08:09-04:00 2011-07-05T09:31:28-04:00

Over the river and through the streets To the Brooklyn Museum we went Past buses and bikes and trucks and cars For a mu-si-cal event..... I do apologize - the heat and humidity do strange things to the brain. But...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/omJ2bWW7qp4" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/07/over-the-river-and-through-the-streets.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833014e8885d0e8970d 2011-05-18T23:55:46-04:00 2011-05-18T23:58:54-04:00

‘Tis the witching hour of night, Orbed is the moon and bright, And the stars, they glisten, glisten, glisten, Seeming with bright eyes to listen, For what listen they? John Keats, 1795-1821 Years can go by, but the habits of...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/fOBdLXC6QO8" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/05/years-can-go-by-but-the-habits-of-ones-growing-up-years-never-really-fade-away-i-came-of-age-in-staid-madras-in-an-er.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833014e6068853d970c 2011-04-05T22:02:27-04:00 2011-04-07T06:49:24-04:00

My life is a strange paradox. On the one hand, I am gloriously, happily busy, doing things that I love, but, on the other hand, my laziness and disorganization have reached record heights. Ideas for new posts are scribbled on...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/rvgGrKPS4Ag" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/04/a-trip-down-memory-lane.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833014e869e9207970d 2011-03-10T06:21:32-05:00 2011-03-11T01:52:22-05:00

The state of Tamil Nadu rolls gently and smoothly south-westwards from Madras to Coimbatore. The terrain is mostly flat, save the occasional hills that rise and fall like soft sighs. The scenery is vintage South India: emerald green paddy fields,...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/9FZRR-7Z4AQ" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/03/nurturing-nature.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833014e5f43a28f970c 2011-02-16T16:42:08-05:00 2011-02-16T16:45:46-05:00

At 9pm on most days I am likely to be eyeing the finish line of a long day - long, alas, usually in hours, not on things achieved. Make it 9pm on a frigid February weeknight in New York, and...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/rtTceoy5nX0" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/02/sleepytime-stories.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330148c870870c970c 2011-02-07T23:49:51-05:00 2011-03-19T09:05:38-04:00

Now the rich stream of Music winds along, Deep, majestic, smooth and strong, Now rolling down the steep amain, Headlong, impetuous, see it pour; The rocks and nodding groves re-bellow to the roar. Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy It...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/cDM-NTO2YOI" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/02/from-court-to-concert-hall-the-evolution-of-carnatic-music-performance.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833013489934bcd970c 2010-11-28T11:46:42-05:00 2011-02-02T14:25:38-05:00

Shankari Mani had been married for 31 years. Most of those years had been lived in an independent house on a tree-lined street that overlooked a park in Sivaganga Colony. At the time of her marriage, she was a qualified...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/3p0z7Cu6B6A" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/11/the-cook-part-1.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833013488396bbf970c 2010-10-15T16:43:11-04:00 2010-10-16T10:56:50-04:00

On the last Tuesday of January 1913, on a clear, cold winter’s morning in Cambridge University in England, a 35 year old mathematician of rapidly growing fame and esteem opened a letter. The letter, thick and unwieldy, bore the grime...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/iY1Iig7kVLM" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/10/infinite-beauty.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330133f4d300df970b 2010-10-03T22:12:09-04:00 2010-10-04T08:45:12-04:00

When you have been involved with something for most of your life, you come to recognize this: the longer the relationship, the more things there are that you realize you do not know. And also: you can meet some people...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/M-lwfTwrytY" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/10/love-thy-neighbor.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833013482cb709c970c 2010-06-02T11:59:29-04:00 2010-06-03T15:56:18-04:00

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen goodbye.....Only for several weeks, dear readers. I will be back in Croatia, to teach once more at the International Vocal Arts Workshop. The last (and first) time I went there, two years ago, I had...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/kZVLkYsTdrw" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/i-fleetly-flee-i-fly.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330133ef20d63e970b 2010-05-28T08:56:51-04:00 2010-05-28T12:41:59-04:00

Many moons ago, in a now nostalgically-remembered era when cell phones and iPods were a rarity, when people wrote and spoke in full sentences and looked each other in the eye, when food was merely food, when men and women...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/gWSHMroi1VY" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/05/another-time-another-place.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330133ed3fd8f0970b 2010-05-05T11:18:41-04:00 2011-02-02T15:21:17-05:00

For as long as I can remember, the walls abutting the streets of my beloved Madras have been a canvas, a battleground, for all manner of posters, paintings and graffiti. Depending on my inclination and mood for the moment, I...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/esd9IWjXrhk" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/05/the-street-wall-journal.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330120a970a5ae970b 2010-03-24T13:24:44-04:00 2010-03-24T21:47:08-04:00

Here is the Ramayana on drugs. It is a far cry from the black and white world of the evil Ravana and the squeaky-clean Rama, the pious Sita and loyal Hanuman. A Ramayana where a lustful Ravana, burned out on...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/A-p4V4g7bqg" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/03/a-junkie-and-a-monkey.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330120a889a527970b 2010-02-10T22:27:59-05:00 2011-03-18T09:14:49-04:00

Straddling the equator in an azure expanse of ocean 3000 miles east of India, on the restless backbone of a volcanic belt, lie hundreds of islands. They form a land-bridge of sorts between India and Australia, emerald-green, beautiful, bewitching and...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/ZsrOQxJnE7c" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/in-the-island-of-the-god.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330128773c0cfe970c 2010-01-31T21:27:16-05:00 2010-02-01T10:29:30-05:00

Early every morning, just when Sivaganga Colony is stirring awake, the peace and quiet are shattered by a raucous cry that reverberates through its streets. It sounds like the anguished wail of some unidentifiable animal, but it galvanizes the housewives...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/Hyo6oBxJx34" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/vignettes-from-sivaganga-colonhy.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330128765cce17970c 2009-12-16T18:58:44-05:00 2009-12-16T18:58:44-05:00

When I was twelve years old, I came home from school one day and got the shock of my life. While getting out of the car, I saw, sitting on the veranda next to my mother, a white-clad lady who...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/un0x4Hwa2hE" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/the-lady-of-many-smiles.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e3982336688833012875ad0887970c 2009-11-17T11:09:10-05:00 2009-11-20T07:10:14-05:00

This is an old story of mine, one of my earliest, dusted off and polished up for your re-reading pleasure. Thanks, Lekhni, for spurring me to do this! He stood at the front gate, a short, tubby man, young but...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/iypcyVoEhbI" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/11/the-music-teacher.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330120a5cdfc1f970b 2009-10-08T13:42:05-04:00 2009-10-08T14:47:48-04:00

Legions of giggling schoolchildren, high-spirited college students, trysting lovers, coy honeymooners, and tourists, both frivolous and serious, have traveled the 60 odd kilometers from Madras to Mamallapuram. I have made the trek, too, several times, in all these capacities, the...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/-036e_jFtWg" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/legends-of-the-seven-pagodas.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330120a5ee90a0970c 2009-09-24T22:17:38-04:00 2009-09-24T22:17:38-04:00

I'll come out and confess this: I am an abject failure. A bitter let-down to a proud tradition and lineage, one who failed after barely trying, who lacked even a pallid and watery version of a single attribute required for...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/NzFm4JhE_xo" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/the-reluctant-maami.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330120a5df4cbb970c 2009-09-21T15:12:42-04:00 2009-09-21T15:28:44-04:00

September blows in with cool winds and dazzling sunlight, the skies awhirl with lazily spinning leaves. A perfect day fades into a long, still night wracked by feverish coughs and disjointed dreams. Wild thoughts bubble up, puncturing the surface of...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/7eaYP3KOR0A" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/the-sublime-and-the-ridiculous.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330120a5bb281d970c 2009-09-11T15:24:15-04:00 2010-06-03T07:53:52-04:00

North and South, West and East, the cities of New York and Madras would appear to have nothing in common. And indeed, the ways in which they differ are too numerous to list here, and would serve perhaps as a...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/JEpTDlAnoMo" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/here-and-there.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330120a52738ca970c 2009-08-06T22:01:43-04:00 2010-11-28T10:15:18-05:00

The words are like a magic incantation: Dhalankuthakadhiku thaka thadhinginathom. Chanted to a rhythmic marching beat of one-two-three-four. The years fall away, and I am back in dance - Bharata Natyam - class. There is a pervasive memory of heat...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/w3bHnoZj11A" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/08/thatched-roof-memories-and-a-mystery.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e39823366888330115721386e6970b 2009-07-17T17:01:16-04:00 2009-07-18T00:11:38-04:00

Early every morning for a month last year, I pushed open a stubbornly creaky gate and walked passed her home. My steps slowed, stopped for a moment, and my eyes quickly scanned the verandah. Nothing stirred. The only sounds were...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/i017EyNft3w" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/the-meeting-that-never-was.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00e398233668883301157204deb1970b 2009-07-14T18:13:38-04:00 2011-04-07T08:40:55-04:00

The 40th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, by the crew of Apollo 11 in July 1969, is the inspiration for this post. Through most of the second half of the twentieth century, the Cold War and the conflicts,...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/WF2gwWL5ggo" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/lunatic-memories.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66614091 2009-05-10T17:29:58-04:00 2011-07-28T13:05:13-04:00

This is dedicated, with tongue firmly in cheek, to my very own Ejamanar (note: Ejamanar, in colloquial Tamil, means Lord of the Household or something to that effect) The Cast of Characters Ejamanar: The Lord and Master of the Ejamanar...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/uzJ_4UwdZOY" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/a-day-in-the-life-of-ejamanar.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65902391 2009-04-22T21:16:15-04:00 2009-04-22T23:09:29-04:00

Recently, I attended an event at the Asia Society in New York, to mark the U.S. release of Namita Devidayal’s book The Music Room. This book – which I highly recommend – is a story of several musical journeys and...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/7I8bUi-bP9w" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/a-meeting-of-worlds.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65011849 2009-04-02T20:33:55-04:00 2011-07-18T13:02:19-04:00

The Call of the South: Part Three: Kanyakumari It is impossible to write a simple and straightforward account of anything in India. Say you want to write about a place. You start gathering your information, your memories, your thoughts. And...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/sz7CabkS1os" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/the-abode-of-the-virgin-goddess.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-64419575 2009-03-20T15:55:12-04:00 2009-03-20T15:48:27-04:00

National Highway 47 and Suchindram The distance from Trivandrum to the temple town of Suchindram on the promisingly named National Highway 47 is barely 50 miles. This is the deep south of India. The land of gently swaying coconut palms...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/0PtM6l0O83w" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/the-call-of-the-south-part-two.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-63757111 2009-03-06T18:50:04-05:00 2009-03-06T19:01:46-05:00

Part One: Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Trivandrum How quickly one goes from complaining about the cold to complaining about the heat! It had been barely a few dozen hours earlier that we had moaned about the New York winter, unfolding with cruel...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/-Z-7s4AbQBE" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/the-call-of-the-south.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-63073191 2009-02-19T15:32:39-05:00 2009-02-19T15:32:24-05:00

I know, this is my third post on Balamurali on this blog - the last two hot on each others' heels. (Here are the earlier ones.) But, after listening - repeatedly, obsessively - for an entire morning, to a sublime...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/CtiXzA_36ks" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/02/balamurali-redux.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-62399641 2009-02-04T22:40:09-05:00 2011-04-26T08:36:34-04:00

I am sure that most of us remember our adolescent years as some sort of a long-playing horror show. Mix together mood swings, temper tantrums, unreasonable parents, pimples, a body that sprouts strange things, sniggering siblings, and the whole wide...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/bwVMZru0Qko" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/02/close-encounters-of-the-musical-kind.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-59449996 2008-12-03T15:12:38-05:00 2011-02-24T14:51:50-05:00

Let me begin with a doff of the hat to the Math and Science Gene (MSG). He has marched tirelessly through countless generations of my family, far, far back into the cobwebbed recesses of ancestral lore and memory. He has...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/nHsLAw_E2O8" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/12/the-science-of-the-kolam.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-58251180 2008-11-09T09:20:02-05:00 2008-11-09T09:20:02-05:00

Come with me, let us travel together on a magic carpet ride. It is a beautiful evening, all soft light and gentle breezes. All we need is some music to make it perfect. Are you ready? Hold on tightly as...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/__tFwZVX6wo" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/11/a-heavenly-magic-carpet-ride.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-57668185 2008-10-28T09:40:48-04:00 2008-10-28T09:40:48-04:00

Continued from here I stared at Suji, shocked. I was too stunned to retort that Ponnammal was not going to a higher calling in London, she was not getting an education, she would merely be doing the same menial work,...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/VNJkI2EbeI8" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/ponnammal-goes-to-london-the-final-installment.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-57512961 2008-10-27T09:22:09-04:00 2008-10-27T09:22:09-04:00

Continued from here In the meantime, Suji rattled on. Her son would offer her a Rs. 1,000 raise in salary, which would be deposited directly into a bank account he would open for her. People like Ponnammal could never dream...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/iKQBFRGZyoE" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/continued-from-here-------style-definitions----pmsonormal-limsonormal-divmsonormal---mso-style-parent---margin.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-57078221 2008-10-16T10:09:04-04:00 2008-10-16T10:09:04-04:00

Continued from here After more than two years of working for me in prickly hostility, Ponnammal permitted herself to relax, oh-so-imperceptibly. But the real turnaround came when my daughter, Chitra, was born. From the moment she set eyes on her,...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/OfLzxOP2bhg" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/ponnammal-goes-to-london-part-3.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-56913869 2008-10-13T09:56:07-04:00 2008-10-13T09:56:07-04:00

Continued from here I enjoyed spending the occasional afternoon with Suji when all the chores were completed, and some sweet tea and a gossip session seemed in order. Suji’s fund of information about the building’s residents seemed to be inexhaustible....<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/Tsc3ibmLbQg" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/ponnammal-goes-to-london-part-2.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-56806945 2008-10-10T08:21:29-04:00 2008-10-10T08:21:29-04:00

I am a simple person. My needs are few, my demands uncomplicated, my pleasures humble and plain. I am happy to eat bland thayir saadam day after day if I need to, I remain unruffled by the frequent power cuts...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/UNGYJpVJAzs" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/ponnammal-goes-to-london.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-56396407 2008-10-01T15:13:21-04:00 2008-10-01T15:13:21-04:00

Croatia Chronicle: Part Five Everyone is in high spirits after yesterday’s rollicking, wildly successful Carnival and the party at Rok and Lea’s. The big event for the day is our pianist Jose’s recital for us in the Kastel. He has...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/ezq19jG3R_Q" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/moonlight-sonata-in-the-kastel.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-55182920 2008-09-05T12:42:48-04:00 2008-09-05T12:42:48-04:00

Croatia Chronicle: Part Four Sunday, the last day of the Mayor’s Festa. Groznjan: a happening place The day dawns wet and cold, with a sharp wind and a continuous, gossamer-light drizzle. A sagging, weary, silent group shows up for practice...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/TmH_HbAoYck" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/the-music-of-the-night.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-54253120 2008-08-15T18:22:18-04:00 2008-08-15T18:22:18-04:00

Croatia Chronicle: Part Three This is Day One of the Mayor’s Festa di san Vito, Modesta e Crescenzia Festival, and nobody seems to know quite what’s going on. There is an Art Gallery opening, our performance, food and drinks, and...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/n9MGt9NrBPQ" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/friday-the-13th.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-54053214 2008-08-11T17:23:11-04:00 2008-08-11T17:23:11-04:00

Croatia Chronicle: Part Two Our morning lesson is done, and we have some time to spare, which we spend lounging on the steps in front of Bastia. It is a sunny morning, and the village is quiet, basking in the...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/Se61O0Ol4KQ" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/an-olinda-day.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-53896666 2008-08-07T16:15:34-04:00 2011-04-21T08:59:25-04:00

Croatia Chronicle: Part One I have been issued a mandate that is as tall as it is broad: to teach Carnatic music and Bharata Natyam to a group of musicians and music students in Groznjan, Croatia. The only other things...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/AXSn6952kRs" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/in-a-fairytale-land.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-53023640 2008-07-21T15:22:14-04:00 2011-02-02T14:23:03-05:00

Indulge me for a little while as I lay out for you a few threads of history. They will seem to have nothing to do with one another – for how can it be possible that little-known Istria, and the...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/ZB7R1jHR-Xc" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/07/weaving-a-tale-of-istria-and-south-india.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-50806508 2008-06-04T09:27:12-04:00 2008-06-04T09:27:12-04:00

Dear Readers, This blog will fall silent for several weeks. I am going on a voyage, to a place called Groznjan, in the Istrian Peninsula of Croatia. It is, I am told, a small, medieval, hilltop village, charming and picturesque,...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/KFM79zuT0fk" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/06/the-curtain-descendstemporarily.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-50647168 2008-05-31T09:25:42-04:00 2008-05-31T09:25:42-04:00

The monsoons arrived that Saturday morning. The wind and rain went crazy, lashing into everything with a fury the city had not seen in a long time. There was no electricity. In the middle of a prolonged hammering of thunder,...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/dBnOnOSsn5A" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/mallika-grows-up-the-final-installment.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-50446594 2008-05-27T01:15:47-04:00 2008-05-27T01:15:47-04:00

The house they had found was in one of the poorer neighborhoods in town. They had the entire ground floor, which consisted of a living room, dining area, kitchen, bathroom and one bedroom. There were four boys and two girls...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/alyABYFHoQ0" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/mallika-grows-up-part-3.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-50305200 2008-05-23T09:40:28-04:00 2008-05-23T09:40:28-04:00

“Amma?” Mallika’s voice had slightly hysterical edge to it, or at least it seemed that way to Subadra’s overwrought imagination. Possibilities, all dire, raced through her mind. She had been mugged, dumped by some boy, failed her exams, or….. (Her...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalesOfSouthIndia/~4/y6MlyWhmhak" height="1" width="1"/>

Kamini Dandapani http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/mallika-grows-up-part-2.html