By Anita Iyer
Switch on any Hindi radio station, anywhere, playing Bollywood music and chances are you might end up listening to remix versions of hit songs or an inspired version of a Punjabi folk track.
Continue reading Tuned down: Is Hindi music suffering an identity crisis?
By Tirtho Banerjee
When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, I used to listen to Hemanta Kumar Mukherjee’s renditions of Rabindra Sangeet: Diner Sheshe Ghumer Deshe, Mone Robe Ki Na Robe, and so on, which my baba (father) would play on his record player. Some of the lyrics were unfathomable back then (and most of them still are), but there was something in his soulful voice that kept lingering in my consciousness.
Continue reading A song-filled ode to a musical genius who’s ‘been’ there
By Alvin R. Cabral
I never liked miso soup — unflattering for someone who worships Japanese cuisine. Yet, here I was, in a downtown San Francisco resto, sipping away at the concoction I never got to like because I had no choice: There was no Wi-Fi, I didn’t have data and, most agonisingly, it would take 15-20 more minutes before my sashimi, katsudon and some weird deep-fried dragon roll would have the honour of being devoured by this worshipper.
Continue reading Miso soup: A bowl of regret to recall people
By Vicky Kapur
A scoreline of 212/6 vs 336/5 doesn’t even begin to do justice to the hype created for an India-Pakistan encounter on the cricketing field. And this was during the ICC Cricket World Cup, the quadrennial contest for cricket’s most celebrated title. What a washout! It was pegged as the clash of the Cup and even rain gods relented (save for the fact that Pakistan’s innings was truncated by 10 overs and the target was revised down by 35-odd runs). But even ardent admirers of Pakistan cricket will concede that the 11 Men in Green on the ground were no real match for the Clinical 11 from India.
Continue reading How India Vs Pak pushed cricket on the back foot
By Suresh Pattali
“Mother serious start immediately”
Succinct, sharp, explicit and poignant. No room for a comma or a full point as punctuation was payable at the same rate as a word. The language of emotions has no grammar anyways. This fabled line sent via the now-defunct Indian telegram service was probably the most misused message sent across any platform once upon a time when the phenomenon called the Internet never existed.
Continue reading Who ‘killed’ my mother — cousin or colleagues?
By Purva Grover
Men, as I was made to believe, can live contentedly, with just a few pair of trousers, two shirts (white and blue), and a single pair of shoes. Of course, new-age men may boast drawers full of many pair of socks as well to match up with the well-paired trousers-shirts combo. The man I married is not new-age; we’re both ageing and I’d like to think with grace. Of course, I expected his wardrobe to be skeletal as well. I was right, but only partly.
Continue reading Can you ever have enough World Cup jerseys? No.
By Sukayna Kazmi
“How did that happen?” That is the first question I’m asked when people find out that I’m half-Indian, half-Pakistani (well, my father is from India, and mother from Pakistan). For some, it’s hard to digest that love can blossom between people from rival countries. Even though India and Pakistan have a history of political conflicts, the two communities mingle quite happily in the UAE.
Continue reading Indo-Pak match: What it means for one from both sides
