The taxi driver was excited to know that we were Indian tourists! He phoned his mother from the car to tell her that he had Indian passengers! She welcomed us, excitedly. That was something new to us. Indian tourists are not always liked in most countries. So, I was...
While we were still reeling under the Corona storm, the Amphan Super Cyclone lashed out in Bengal and Orissa, to deal a harder blow on May 20th. Is it just coincidence or workings of some numerology that the year 2020 is playing Twenty-20 with us? We have to wash...
Simla House. 85A Amherst Street, Kolkata. Now…Raja Ram Mohan Sarani. A decrepit mansion. Very few walls remained of the upper floors of the colonial Georgian style architecture. Creepers and banyan trees had taken over most of what remained. We went past it quite...
Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore was born during a sultry Indian summer, on 7th May or ponchishey boishakh (1) in 1861. There were times when he was known to have wrapped a blanket around him and kept the windows open to feel the intense heat of Bolpur, while writing his...
February 16th, 1980 – The first time I watched the sun’s rays getting totally covered by the moon, on Doordarshan, was also the first time I watched Satyajit Ray’s ‘Pather Panchali’ or Song of the Road. I was a mere ten-year old. However, both rays have...
The enduring Earth cried out in pain! When we set Her ablaze; Tried to wring out Her last breath - “Enough is enough!” she cried. She turned the tables with quiet certitude. To make us breathe in an uncertain world. To keep us distant in an uncertain world. To...
Gaetano Ciniselli, an Italian circus performer, founded the first brick-built circus beside the Fontanka River in St. Petersburg, Russia, in December 1877. The building has a large stage, stables and the first circus museum in the world. The Russian State Ice Circus...
(after the lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic) Today’s Sunday. Today’s Monday. All days feel the same. You are inside. You are bored. You want to play a game. They are outside. On the road. Nothing looks the same For them. They don’t...
A few miles north-east of concrete Singapore, lies the natural island of Pulau Ubin – the last real village in Singapore. An affordable 10-min ride in a bumboat from the Changi Ferry Terminal will take you to this quirky and rustic destination. The weather is...
I am a woman. I believe in myself. I believe in you, too. My faith in ‘us’ is my greatest strength. You and I coexist in a world that wants us to agree to be different. I accept you the way you are. You accept me the way I am. My gender, my age, my colour, my...