Kerala: Of monkeys and nuts

Joseph Alapatt found that in Indonesia monkeys are trained to pluck coconuts. He requested the Minister concerned to send a squad of monkeys to Kerala on a trial basis...More...

Diamonds and curry

...he convinced another uncle to get him across to Holland and for the past few years he has been a Dutch man, lonely like Murugan the elephant. Even though there were plenty of rich Indians around there, in the hustle bustle of Diamond business in Amsterdam, he was quite a loner and floundering close to the lower rungs of the personnel development ladder...More...

Whispers in New Delhi's corridors of power

Keeps you posted on impending postings & transfers of IAS/IPS officials; it carries rumors on who’s under suspension, who are tipped to go on deputation to the Centre, from where; and whose name is up for reversion to the parent state...Whispers publishes political tidbits, corporate changes and other water-cooler gossip...More...

Blog of the day: Bhel Puri & Seekh Kabab

A blog that talks about everything other than kabab, by New York-based Bangalore guy, who holds a job that allows him three business trips to 'desh' in a year...More...

Singapore Snapshot-12: Mid-Autumn Festival

The China town section of Singapore is specially decked up with lanterns, huge and innovative ones. So is the Clarke Quay area next to the Singapore river...Moon cakes from all the big name hotels are found in stalls, in many malls across the Island...More...

18 ways to make a difference

7. Carry biscuits or other foodstuff (preferably packaged food or fruit/veggies) to give street kids at traffic signals.
6. Donate your computer’s idle time to Google Compute, to help carry out calculations for scientific research.
5. Have a ‘Donation Day’ every quarter year, in companies, housing associations, or schools.
2. Donate old computers to balwadis/municipal schools
1. Donate old mobile phones to the deaf (SMS messages and the vibrator mode make this a very effective method of communication esp for the working deaf)...More...

Accident victim care court ruling

My public-spirited friend ERR passed on a mail he got from a friend, with a note that if we spread the word widely and long enough, lives could be saved...More...

Shamim as they saw him

Those were days when most newspaper editors were treated like doormat by the then I&B minister V C Shukla. He had this penchant for summonning them to his office for a dressing-down.It was in such socio-political environment that Shamim was appointed a director of Samachar (a news agency founded by merging PTI and UNI)...More...

A time when slide-rules ruled

Today I looked at the relic slide rule with great fondness as it brought back many a college memory, of early teen age days gone by, new friendships, the ragging period, the first days of independent hostel living….remember the Tamil song in ‘Autograph’ Nyapakam varuthe nyapakm varuthe…...More...

Lakshmi on a 'ghost-watch'

My friend Shruthi and I made this ‘room-watching’ a compulsory and routine event, as we were sure something exciting was bound to happen, and we took out time off, introducing every child in the colony to the ‘spooky house.’...More...

The Dosa of San Francisco

Mr Prakash, reviewing the newspaper review on the web, says he was amused at the description of dosa as ‘a large thin crispy crepe - sour and not sweet’ filled with buttery potato, onions and cilantro, to be eaten with a dip of chutney’...More...

Adam's Bridge & Adam's Peak

While researching for Ram Sethu controversy ,yesterday’s post on my blog, I came to understand that the name is from the original Adam of Eden. According to Islamic texts, Adam, after being banished from Eden, walked to South India, crossed over to Ceylon by the causeway between Palk Straits and Gulf of Mannar and climbed the 2,243 meters mountain...More...

India wins some cricket

One guy had brought a bus horn with which he would make bus-honk noises every time India score runs or got wickets. One or two of the company, on realizing that their Men Friday had omitted to pack such an instrument amongst their personal effects, managed to produce similar sounds with their armpits...More...

Tribute to a film critic and friend

He was pampered by most Bollywood busybodies; and many held him in high regard. But no one who was anyone in Bollywood those days could afford to ignore Shamim...More...

On hockey and Chak De India

It can change people like my friend, who watched in 10 times along with her coach and the movie has renewed her interest in softball...After listening to classmates recounting the entire story a countless times—a scene to scene description in Algebra class, discussing Komal’s hockey movies more than any sane person should, I thought I should watch the movie, no matter what...More...

Blog of the day: Sheetal Makhan

Sheetal from South Africa, freelance journalist, teacher, blogs life (don't we all?);she makes the most of it, her life as well as blog. But the reason why I chose her blog is because we share the same astrological sign - Leo...Read...

Showcasing the South in ten acres

The most impressive aspect of Dakshina Chitra is the collection of South Indian houses. Not models, but real ones transplanted brick by brick from the four South Indian States – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu...More...

Human rights course for cops

It is refreshing to note a top cop, in the rank of additional director-general of police, taking a stance on the issue in an open forum...What I read in his article, however, wasn't so heartening. He says he wasn’t shocked by the TV pictures of a Bhagalpur cop on a motorbike towing a battered chain-snatcher tethered to his vehicle...More...

Blog of the day: Aarambh

Rakshit Khare, a tech. student in Lucknow is a day-night blogger, who took to it to combat boredom in his 7th sem of B.Tech course, when, he says there isn't much studying to do. Hope Rakshit sustains blogging when he joins Infosys after graduation...More...

A Malayalam movie that moved me

The song also reminded me of one from yester years...I remember only the first line now: Nalukettin thirumutta thilaveyi lettunilkum Krishna thulasi poove… Does anyone know the rest of it?...Coming to the movie – it is by the one man movie machine (a borrowed usage), Balchandra Menon. I never used to take his creations seriously till I saw ‘Achuettante veedu’...More...

Traffic Jam Rant

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, the Mumbai driver abhors a vacant space in the traffic, regardless of how small it is in relation to the vehicle he is driving. He has to occupy that gap. Now everyone else wedges in and the resultant impasse can be quite depressing...More...

Miss Teen's mega blunder

Q: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?...
Lauren Caitlin Upton: "Personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on a map...there should be more emphasis on geography in our education so people will learn how to read maps better."...
She ended up as third runner up – Miss Teen USA...More...

Bangalore's NRI-funded police station

I spent rest of my auto-ride speculating who would want to fund a police station building to perpectuate the memory of the donor family in its native town. Maybe the NRI was once a policeman, or son of a cop...More...

More on book-binder

After worrying about my book-binder for so long, I have found an apt conclusion for my incomplete blogs--and this, dear readers, is for real. Mr. Manikyam might close down, but his family will survive, and the old man might consider retirement...More...

Flight of Bar-tailed Godwits

The last leg of E7's journey ...entailed a non-stop flight of more than eight days and a distance of 7,200 miles, the equivalent of making a round trip flight between New York and San Francisco, and then flying back again to San Francisco without ever touching down...More...

Mysore's man of the hour

Manivannan is the best thing that has happened to Mysore in a long time. Whether it was by design or administrative convenience we now have an administrator with a proven track record. And he is open to ideas, public views and opinion...More...

People's radio

Though the state says it is keen to see many thousand radio stations across the country, its processes and policies are discouraging...But people are not giving up. I heard that a body which represents the autorickshaw drivers of Chennai had applied for a radio licence. So did a well known residents' association in Mumbai...More...

More on the caste-driven madhouse

The author, Deyvid Aleksandr Raffo Setti, calls it ‘Structure of the Indian society by castes’. I would have liked to give the caption ‘Indian Social System: Head to foot and below'...More...

The First Touch

They help bring in artists from various forms of art - fine arts, theatre, dance etc and conduct interactive sessions with school kids during weekends and thus stir up the artist in a child...More...

Delhi roads are not for driving

I used to think roads were for driving till I read The Times of India during my recent visit to New Delhi. People there apparently ‘zip on roads’, and the newspaper I used to work for has become more imaginative in giving headlines than in my time...More...

Not about Reverse Transcriptase

I am accused of writing only about my family and the old better half has threatened to rearrange my facial features if I don't find something else to write about, or find something nice to write about her...More...

Vivekananda's lunatic Kerala

"Untouchable" Hindus were required to maintain a prescribed distance from the upper-castes at all times so as not to pollute them. The distance was at least 64 feet from the priestly Brahmin caste and 30 feet from artisans...More...

Madras Matters

Unlike Kerala, there is no system of queuing here (in Chennai). In the jostling and wriggling, strong men get the bottles. The meek wait eternally. I tried a few times to buy drinks personally and gave up – not on the liquor, but getting involved in the melee. Now I depend on the driver...More...

Reading Smith

In a way it was good to read the 4th first, as it sets the pace and mood, also describes the settings without much of a plot. It whets your appetite for the others which are supposedly better. Now I am reading ‘In the company of cheerful ladies’...More...

The Art of Resilience - Hara Estroff Marano

Resilience may be an art, the ultimate art of living, but is has recently been subjected to the scrutiny of science...More...

How I took to sitar

I struck with this not so normal idea of learning sitar after I read about a professional sitarist Manoj Mukherjee in Mysore...More...

Singapore Snapshot-11: The hungry ghosts

The end of the 7th month of the Chinese calendar is upon us now but the entire month had festivities to honor and “entertain” the dead...During the 7th month, it is known by the Chinese that the gates of Hades (or hell) are thrown open to the dead and they come down to the land of the living. They are known as the hungry ghosts...More...

123 Go - By the Book

Where is the 123 (India-US Nuclear) Agreement, or rather the politicians’ handling of it, taking us? I am a reasonably well-educated citizen, read a few newspapers daily and watch TV, but still the drama is confusing...More...

Dad, 2007

Dads are no longer the authoritarian figures they were...A good friend of mine, an advertising guru, wrote in his blog about how parenting stereotypes are changing and how kids are increasingly perceiving themselves to be the equals of their parents...More...

Of teenage bloggers

People who want to write always will, immaterial of whether they are thirteen or thirty...And people need to understand that even that wild creature of a teenager who irritates you with his weird ways and repulsive looks does have a heart...and talent...and the urge to prove himself...More

Blog of the day: That's How It Really Works

A blog about cricket, pet,movies, and current affairs...Read blog...

16 ways to make a difference

There are so many ways in which one can help the underprivileged.You are welcome to add your suggestions to these...More...

My train rides

The diesel engine never had a characteristic whistle, I have always wondered about that, why did it come with a bbrooooobroooah sounding horn instead? Research tells me that the classic steam whistle was made to work with steam, and since steam at that pressure was no longer available in diesel’s they developed the bleating horn...More...

To my teacher, Meera Mam

Meera Mam had strange ways...if you didn’t finish your lunch, she would sit with you, with your spoon in her hand, and feed you the old curd rice your mom had packed!...“You should not waste what your parents send you,” she used to say. Now, if Meera Mam fed you, she would do it in front of the entire class,...Read on...

Flowers that gods and men love

Ixora coccinea (Rubiaceae) is associated with valor. It is said that ancient Tamil literature mentions about soldiers wearing the flowers and leaves of this plant around their necks while going into battle. Ixora flowers are also a symbol of increased sexuality and passion....More...

World’s eldest YouTuber?

Sydney was the British colonial capital of the New South Wales when Ms Riley was born (1899). Describing her as physically frail but mentally alert, Eric informs us that the grand old lady of blogosphere who survived two World Wars, the Great Depression (1930), had seen life as a barmaid, egg-sorter and a station cook...More...

Blog of the day:Prabhu n Ferrari

A Ferrari fan, presumably, this Bangalore-based blogger doesn't go to pubs; do the sights at Brig.Rd/Forum/Garuda malls. No, he doesn't even follow cricket or watch 'Friends' on TV. What the heck does this young man do ?...Look him up at...

Why oldies should blog

Keeping the mind and body active is your passport to good health. Blogging,a great mental exercise, is likely to help prevent/delay Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)...Another point...so much of experience and memories that would be useful and interesting to others...Blogging also enhances one’s self-esteem...More....

Of Shelfari and the Library Thing

Over the coming days and weeks I hope to catologue them online in ‘My Shelf’. And my e-contacts could count on finding in their Inbox a Selfari invite. Hopefully, we could put in place a network to access one another’s book-shelf online...More...

Flag-hoisting at Mylara Krupa

The flag post would be the “madi-koolu” – the 8 foot length of cane used to spread the clothes used for religious purposes. The flag would be tied – yes, tied – not hoisted on top of this pole. Flower petals would be placed inside and the flag folded and now tied with a piece of rope. The pole would now be place in a hole dug in front of the “tulasi katte”....More...

Reliability of neighborhood ATM

I blog this as a warning to others. If you are going on a journey and plan to draw money from ATM en route to the airport or railway station, you could be taking a risk. It is safer to collect cash earlier and keep, to avoid the risk of traveling without enough money on hand...More...

B2B with Kini: Battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

My friend Kini's web silence gives me a guilty feeling. His last post - Journey's End - was in June. But then he has legitimate reason for silence - battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) that brings with it "a new scary set of symptoms" each day. My feeling of guilt has to do with failure to keep alive my end of our blog-line...More...

Blog of the day: Khayals

Anandi of Mumbai took to blogging at 75;nearly a month back,in fact. No stranger to writing, she has done several stories, and novels highlighting Konkini culture, in her mother tongue. Anandi blogs with help from son and daughter-in-law...Read her...

Painting Ravi Varma didn't do

I saw a full size print of this painting at my cousin’s house & it has fascinated me since then. My aunt explained that the original is at the Mysore palace....it was attributed to Ravi Varma...and the subject is supposed to be a lady from the royal family - ammankovil thampuratti. But it is not Varma’s work...More...

Antha: A tribute from his boss

The world didn’t know Antha....the staff of the nearby hospitals knew him because he was...an independent type of patient.The reason given for discharge from his last hospital was disregarding hospital rules...I don’t think he acknowledged anyone else than our family as his boss. In spite of our attempt to pension him, he used to report for work whenever he could....More...