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A Grandmother Remembered

by Ramesh Mahadevan There is something universal about all Indian grandmothers. It is almost as if they all went to some sort of an IIT of grandmothering and took the same courses. For one, they are always in the background. They are all extraordinary ladies who...

The Thousand Pillared Hall

Big grownups are all bad. ShenbagaKuzhalvaimozhi, the little girl with the long name, has come to this grand conclusion before she arrives at the Hall of Thousand Pillars. This is one place within the temple compound with hardly any people, big or little. The hall...

The Athai who Turned into an Ayah

In a 1977 black-and-white film set in Madras, a rich widow sets out to work as the ayah of her grandson – a bit like Avvai Shanmugi, except there is no big disguise involved. The middle-aged woman trades her diamonds and silks for a maid’s...

Curiosity-driven research, curd rice and pickle

You may be familiar with MS Blue, the distinctive shade of blue, named for the legendary Carnatic vocalist M.S. Subbalakshmi, but now “Mas Blue,” is all set to wow the world of art. “Mas” comes from the initials of Prof. M.A. Subramanian, the material scientist from Madras,...

On Killing a Tree

By Gieve Patel It is premeditated murder -- no two ways about it. Stanza 1 “It takes much time to kill a tree, Not a simple jab of the knife I will do it. It has grown Slowly consuming the earth, Rising out of it,...

Red Sox, Blue Fish by Susan Orlean

Used to be, a fella could regale his buddies with endless tales of his bravery and fortitude in the face of adversity — of mettle in battle, for instance, or stamina on a Grand Teton ascent, or resolve in the face of a cattle stampede. Around...