By Suresh Pattali
Hailing from a town full of churches and temples, the magnificence and architectural brilliance of places of worship have always beckoned me. I preferred to visit them outside of prayer timings — when their physical emptiness and silent ambience would fill my soul with peace and spirituality.
Continue reading It will take more than money to rebuild Notre Dame
By Minal Vazirani
Looking out at the crowded New York street, the hurried columns of pedestrians dressed in grey and blue seemed to shift the city structures with their frenetic pace, while I sat — trying to be patient — for what I knew would be a thoughtful response. I was with Ram Kumar discussing his work and what altered his perception as he removed figuration from his displaced landscapes in Benaras. After a long pause, he finally smiled at me and said, quietly and confidently, “It’s what I think and imagine and then how I translate it.” He defined his painting process in simple terms, but it spoke volumes about him as a person. It was about beginning with the first glance and perception, expanding with creativity and ultimately finishing with the lyrical nuances only a poet like Kumar could infuse into his work. Continue reading A passion for landscape, poetry and what forms an inner life
By Suresh Pattali
The Korean receptionist at the hotel in Atlanta was so nonplussed by my first question that she refused to take her eyes off me. For a moment, I wondered if my query contained blasphemous slang. I replayed it hesitantly. Continue reading I had a dream… I visited Martin Luther King Jr at home
By Randy Dotinga
“Women’s work” has an unwritten definition: Long on hours, short on respect. Tedious, backbreaking and underpaid or not paid at all. Maids and factory workers, nurses and store clerks, homemakers and mothers. Continue reading About the women who used to break codes in World War II
By Purva Grover
As a child, I didn’t know that my maternal grandpa was a scholar. He was a doctor — I knew that — from the black nameplate that hung outside the door — Dr Krishan Dhavan. But what kind of doctor, I was unsure of. Doctors wear stethoscopes, right? He didn’t. Neither did I know that he was an important, famous man. He was just Nana, simple. Continue reading My grandpa built a library for future generations
By Bernd Debusmann Jr.
At 11 minutes before midnight local time on Thursday, September 7, Mexico was jolted by a magnitude 8.1 earthquake — the strongest in a century. Despite the fact that over 90 people were left dead and that scores of buildings were destroyed in the south of the country, many Mexicans breathed a sigh of relief. Things could have been far worse. Continue reading How prepared can a city be for an earthquake? Very, turns out
By Bernd Debusmann Jr.
Violence — in Syria, Latin America, South Africa and Southeast Asia — trickles down to a country’s children. War affects kids, turns them aggressive and inclined to violence themselves
Continue reading The kids are not alright. Guess what is to blame
