Windy Skies

Kali Rides

2013-05-05T20:05:00.001+05:30

That evening in Calcutta we wandered aimlessly among people and before long I found myself seeking the boats that’d take Durga home. But as I walked towards the ghat on the river, the waters pulled away from me as if intimidated by my presence, retreating slowly but surely, pushing at the land on the other side until they could push no more. Confused, I paused and wondered - How was I

Sooni Taraporevala’s 'Parsis' Exhibits at Chemould Prescott Road Gallery, Mumbai

2013-04-05T19:50:00.003+05:30

The Mystic Piano Tuner, Mr. Ratnagar, Bombay, 1985 Photography often draws on different sentiments to connect the viewer emotionally with the images on display. While the degree of the connect with photographs is often determined by how closely the viewer can directly relate to the subjects photographed, it can however be extended to include the associations the viewer has made with

Prayer Time At Delhi’s Jama Masjid

2013-03-09T00:08:00.001+05:30

As the clock struck 4, a barely perceptible crackle over the public address system soon turned into a mellifluous call to prayer at Delhi's Jama Masjid. I sat on a raised platform facing the historic masjid in old Delhi. The platform ran east-west along the length of the quadrangle enclosing a large courtyard where visitors milled about and joyous children scattered hundreds of

David Rocco’s Dolce India Swings By ITC Grand Central, Mumbai

2013-03-03T15:46:00.000+05:30

I learned of David Rocco’s Mumbai visit to film his new series in India centred on food only recently. Scheduled to be broadcast on FOX Traveller, his India episodes are said to be along the lines of his charming Dolce Vita episodes in Italy, exploring kitchens and restaurants, and people and places. A quick swing by ITC Grand Central and I’d have gotten a glimpse of his team at work only

The Colour Of Candyfloss

2013-02-13T00:29:00.000+05:30

Sharmaji and I take a leisurely walk across the bridge over Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra. A bite of candy floss to sweeten the stroll would’ve added just the right touch to a listless morning, a far cry from when the Mahabharata eventually culminated in a ferocious finish about this very place in Haryana in the distant past. I had noticed a speck of pink in the distance. In time

A Swing And A Miss

2013-02-11T00:12:00.001+05:30

It’s nearing ten in the night. Everyone, well almost everyone, is out. It’s Durga Puja. It’s Kolkata. The “Playing XI” consisted of just one bowler, a batsman, and a wicket keeper. The rest of the fielding was done by the two walls enclosing the narrow passage. They had abandoned the red ball, never a good idea under lights to begin with. The white one was a better option. Yet, he

A Poem to Sani Care's Rescue

2013-01-30T01:47:00.003+05:30

Someone decided that just the name wasn’t enough to make passers-by step in and buy into the Sani Care promise. So, a poem was marshalled to do battle. And it went like this: Sani Care Take Care Sanitary Fair Sani Care Plumbing Rare Esteemed Buyers Be Aware Pick Up The Best And The Rare Using Your Own Flair Stepping In To Sani Care And, dear readers, as you can

A Mirror In The Verandah, Crabs Roadside, A Signboard

2013-01-19T00:00:00.000+05:30

Past Bhoma, off the road that runs on to Panjim, I remember a house set back from the road before it cuts through paddy fields and climbs over the bridge at Banastari a short distance away. It sat in a cluster of trees like many Goan houses do as you move away from urban centers and meander in the hinterland. From the window of the bus I would see a mirror hanging by the door that led

Footnotes: Moments In Repose, An Exhibition Of My Photographs

2012-12-26T01:48:00.001+05:30

Click images to enlarge My photography exhibition - Footnotes: Moments in Repose - opens at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, today. The 50+ photographs on display were made over years of my travels across India, seeking backdrops that place the everyday in historical, cultural and traditional contexts. They are about people, and their immediate contexts. Moments

Geeta Saar, Immortal Wisdom

2012-11-30T22:58:00.002+05:30

I’m in Kurukshetra. It’s warm and sunny. The visit took a long time coming. Someday, I used to tell myself every once in a while over the years gone by, I’ll walk the hallowed grounds and imagine the setting that defined the consciousness of a nation, and the centrality of life in a home my Mum shaped for us. Accompanied by Sharmaji I walk slowly toward the chariot behind Brahma

Cops, Sunglasses, Roadside In Daryaganj

2012-11-24T12:43:00.001+05:30

Three 'newly' minted cops of the Delhi Police find themselves in the bustle of Darya Ganj on Netaji Subash Chandra road in old Delhi. It’s Sunday and 'Life's Good'. The lane heading north toward the intersection with Meena Bazar that runs on to Jama Masjid is floored under all manner of wheels. The other lane is relatively empty. If it isn’t for the fact that it’s a pleasant winter

Uttarayan Time On Ahmedabad Streets

2012-11-20T13:53:00.000+05:30

“Hum Gujarati log mast log hai,” the rickshaw driver merrily informed us in Hindi liberally touched with Gujarati accent. He was smiling away and looked at me in the mirror to gauge my reaction. We had seen enough evidence of the Gujarati joie de vivre already, on the streets and elsewhere to take him at face value. “I know,” I replied, “People here are generally joyous and

Gauri – Ganesh Visarjan, Day 5 Of Ganesh Chaturthi

2012-11-16T11:38:00.003+05:30

I position myself roadside, out of the way of crowds streaming toward the lake, the men bearing Ganapati idols, and women, Gauri idols. Men carrying Ganapati outnumber women carrying Gauri. It is day five of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The police have blocked off the approach to the lake for regular traffic, only letting in rickshaws or tempos bearing devotees carrying

Meandering Among Ruins And Memories In Bijapur

2012-10-31T20:04:00.000+05:30

A snake lay flattened on the road. Using a stick I found in the brush roadside I turned it over to see if I could identify it. I couldn’t. It was flattened to its skin, scattering scales around, making identification ever more difficult more so since I’m no expert on snakes. Ahead, the Ring Road sloped and ran straight before curving out of sight; later in the day we would ride it

Durga Homebound

2012-10-30T22:01:00.001+05:30

Kolkata With Panchami approaching, artisans ferry Durga out of Kumartuli. A truck awaits the goddess in a nearby street off Rabindra Sarani (formerly Chitpur Road). It will ferry the idol to a Durga Puja pandal in the city where the goddess will be the focus of attention of visitors hopping neighbourhood pandals, each pandal decorated and brilliantly lit to set off the goddess in the

Sunday Brunch at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai

2012-09-22T00:47:00.001+05:30

I find communities interesting not merely for characteristics, cultural, linguistic, racial and other traits that define them and set them apart from other communities, but equally fascinating for the reasons that bring them together. And reasons are many in a country as diverse as India, and more so Mumbai, the very microcosm of India if ever there was one. Even so when they gather

Roadside, And Waiting

2012-08-29T22:58:00.000+05:30

Past Jhalki on the NH 13 bound for Solapur, villagers wait roadside by a temple, likely for a bus that winds through the countryside, past homesteads on farms that stretch to infinity, and beyond. The sky is overcast and a breeze is about. The Bhima is a ten minute ride ahead where it flows by Vadakbal. Ah, the Bhima, such a long journey. So many memories. And it’s a morning I'd

Ramadan Time In Bijapur

2012-08-18T12:04:00.002+05:30

“Gareeb bacchey hai,” the elderly Muslim man in a white skull cap and a red gamcha around his neck said as he stopped to speak with me on his way through an old quarter of Bijapur, the ancient city in the Deccan. It’s likely he had noticed me watching on while five children, three boys and two girls, stopped him for chocolates in what I believe is a regular occurrence in the kindly man

My Name Is ……..

2012-08-15T13:01:00.001+05:30

No, it’s not Anthony Gonsalves! From where I sat in the bus, wedged between passengers crowding the aisle on my right and a fellow-passenger in the window seat enjoying his music on my left, I could not see the words framed on the passenger window at the back of the rickshaw clearly in the twilight hour. The bus soon came to a stop among honking auto rickshaws, trucks, cars and

Bal Krishna On Gokulashtami

2012-08-10T23:21:00.001+05:30

Mumbai, 2012 A boy dressed up as Bal Krishna looks on as visitors crowd available balconies in old buildings on Ranade Road, Dadar, for a glimpse of Govindas girding up to battle rival groups for a crack at the Dahi Handi on Krishna Janmashtami today.

Tiger Tourism In Corbett Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand

2012-07-25T23:50:00.001+05:30

Tiger Sighting in Dhikala, Corbett Tiger Reserve (C.T.R.) Jim Corbett, a legendary hunter of man-eating tigers before turning conservationist and bestselling author, was born today, 137 years ago. And today, newspapers reported front page, and analysed in inside pages, the order the Supreme Court passed yesterday imposing a complete ban on tourism activities in the core areas of India

Of New Delhi, Public Garden, Drinking Water, And Gapodi Aunty

2012-07-18T23:55:00.000+05:30

Out on the road, after a time, it’s not so much your own experiences that shape your journeys, as those of others you meet. Every once in a while I intend to take a backseat and let fellow travellers, those I know personally and those I don’t, paint their encounters here. If you were to meet Delhites returning to New Delhi after a sojourn in Mumbai, like I do on the occasions I board

Bonding Roadside In Kolkata

2012-07-01T16:08:00.000+05:30

Kolkata’s Madan Street is a busy street, located at an angle from Chittaranjan Avenue and sheltered by old buildings. On this street I saw more shops dealing in Transistor Radios, repairs and sale of new and old radios, than all the radio shops put together in my time on the streets elsewhere. I did not hear any radio playing though, unless I lost it in the sound of the bustling street.

On A String And A Prayer

2012-06-25T22:02:00.000+05:30

Kites have a mind of their own, and it takes much convincing to make them do your bidding. But that did not stop this young boy from trying to coax his kite into latching onto the breeze on Uttarayan. It appeared all of Ahmedabad had taken to terraces in their neighbourhoods to find out if the sky was truly the limit. In their thousands, kites of every colour imaginable floated

The Lightness Of Being

2012-06-17T18:52:00.001+05:30

An elderly couple soaks in the bustle on the ghats off the Ganges, keeping the three lamps company on a quiet evening in Varanasi. Soon the sun will dip behind the shrines amid ringing of temple bells and they'll return home while the river will nudge the lamps gently away before steering them along on its long journey through time. In ancient India, divinity rode on rivers, dispersing