Of Jaws 3, Rat Curry and Diamonds on Snake Heads
"Last year, when Anita Mani of Indian Pitta Books contacted me and asked if we could update Snakeman (1989), which was about Rom Whitaker and his exploits with reptiles and about our life after we got...
4 Jul 202451min
Masala Chai Magic and More
"The history of drinking spices is older than the history of drinking tea, which is more recent in India. Drinking spices in hot water and in milk comes from the Ayurveda. As to when the marriage of ...
27 Jun 202445min
Women, Dalits and Contextualizing the Manusmriti
"The general greater acceptance of reservations in India as compared to the US comes from the acceptance of a karmic world view, the principle that you can't escape the consequences of your actions. T...
21 Jun 202458min
The social and cultural evolution of the Indian Foreign Service
"The problem of studying history is that we often think of history from today's point of view. When we look at history we must always look at the physical reality that existed at that particular time....
14 Jun 20241h 12min
Of guilt lit and suffocation by morality
"It's very easy to criticise the BJP government or the Mamta government for censorship. What we don't realise is we are doing the same thing on social media without allowing a certain kind of freedom ...
7 Jun 20241h 5min
Not a fraction but a whole
"The book is about my story as somebody of mixed heritage. In many ways it's just the story of somebody trying to figure out who they are in a world that likes to separate and divide. the story of the...
30 Mai 20241h 4min
Of rose beds and avenues lined with amaltas
"If you look at late 19th century photographs or sketches of Delhi, it is empty and treeless. It's a historical fact that the city's greenery has come with the development of urban settlements... My f...
23 Mai 20241h
Magnetic women, Oxbeas accents, and 1980s Bombay and Delhi
"Social comedy usually has a very short span because it gets dated. For people to laugh at the same silly jokes, for social comedy to survive means that it's hit some enduring spot. I was trying to wr...
16 Mai 202443min
