These buildings in Mumbai could be ageing courtesans from another time and place. Faded, wrinkled, abused and world-weary, they are the old single-screen cinema houses scattered all over the city. Some still have the spirit to don the war paint in the hopes of luring customers. Others have just given up the struggle. At four… Continue reading Fading lights in Mumbai
The Norway bombings: life imitates fiction?
In my last post, I’d written about Scandinavian crime fiction and how the entire body of work is outstanding in quality. And now, the bombings in Norway – unexpected, unbelievable and yet, for devotees of the Scandinavian thriller books, not so surprising. The books are all about the churn in Scandinavian society and how people… Continue reading The Norway bombings: life imitates fiction?
Chills and thrills: Scandinavian crime fiction
Seriously, what is it with crime fiction and the Scandinavian countries? And I don’t mean Stieg Larsson, though he is possibly the best known name among them. I am going through this phase where I am reading crime fiction from that part of the world (last year, it was Indian detectives) – it’s stunning how… Continue reading Chills and thrills: Scandinavian crime fiction
Vote in the name of love
This appeared recently in the WSJ India Real Time blog as Indian Political Party’s Unique Platform: Love *** Kumar Sri Sri, whose beaming face is still plastered across the city of Chennai on posters left over from assembly elections earlier this year, says his party aims to work for the “success of lovers.” In the… Continue reading Vote in the name of love
How to save the world, one move at a time
That was the title I had used for this piece on digital gaming that I wrote for Open recently – Playing for a Nobel Peace Prize. *** Jane McGonigal believes that someone from her field will win the Nobel Peace Prize one day. She even predicts that it will happen by the year 2023. She… Continue reading How to save the world, one move at a time
The Many Bhoots of Bollywood
In one of my aimless afternoon browsing spells on the internet, I come across this piece in Tehelka about the Ramsay scion watching and evaluating Haunted, Vikram Bhatt’s new horror movie in 3D. Shyam Ramsay, given the family’s experience in successfully scaring the masses with movies like Aakhri Cheez and Shaitani Ilaka, is disappointed by… Continue reading The Many Bhoots of Bollywood
It happens only in India
You are still reading this blog? Really? And have you also been reading other things I have been writing on the www? Go check them out now on my website (I can never get used to how grand that sounds!). Here on WSJ – Dimsum in India, This is not that and On the new… Continue reading It happens only in India
Wheels of change
A piece in The Atlantic on a new book on bicycles and their role in the empowerment of women: ‘Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)’. From the piece, “To men, the bicycle in the beginning was merely a new toy, another machine added… Continue reading Wheels of change
Sketches of the past
A few years ago, an unlikely goddess was added to India’s already overpopulated pantheon. Going by the name of Savita Bhabhi (meaning sister-in-law), she gave a new twist to the term comic strip: she was India’s first pornographic cartoon character. A 29-year-old housewife, Bhabhi had a dedicated website and thousands of dedicated followers. But just… Continue reading Sketches of the past
The blog is endangered
No, not mine. My piece on the state of blogging is in this week’s issue of Open. Have a looksee. I had called it: The blog is dead, long live the blog. Or read it here – The email came out of the blue one morning—Desipundit was shutting down. After five years of collating ‘the… Continue reading The blog is endangered