Pic: Sunset in Dalat Dalat is a small hilly town in southern Vietnam. As a relatively serene and calm Vietnamese city, it has a lot to offer visitors who are looking for a more relaxed pace of travel. With the centre of town being focused on a large lake, Dalat is an outdoor lover’s dream […]
Hoi An : A Quaint, Quirky, Coastal Charmer
Pic: A tailoring boutique shop in one of the Old Town alleyways Hoi An is a historic port town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old building façades in the heritage area are in a state of protected disrepair, i.e. they’re left to their crumbling nature as a homage to the history of the […]
Book Review: The Golden Legend
The master story-teller is back, weaving the usual magic with his words, writing a familiar yet brand-new tale of love in the times of bigotry and xenophobia.“ I wake up every day approaching life’s problems through fiction,“ says Nadeem Aslam. Which explains the prose that soars even as it touches upon, examines, parses all the conflict life […]
Thank you, Women’s Studies!
Two years ago, the decision to take up Women’s Studies was one I made after a fair bit of struggle and trepidation, and I’d be lying if I said it’s something I always wanted to study. But life never quite turns out the way one would expect, and now, sitting on a flight home, having […]
A Trek Back to Selfhood
“It seemed to me the way it must feel to people who cut themselves on purpose. Not pretty, but clean. Not good, but void of regret. I was trying to heal. Trying to get the bad out of my system so I could be good again. To cure me of myself.” — Wild: From Lost […]
Walking Tall Though Change
Father was always a fast walker; his strides were long, his gait effortless. When Calvin and I managed to match his pace during our morning walks in Boat Club, I panted more than my canine companion. I was a teenager then and Calvin was just two. Father was faster, brisker, and more focussed than most […]
Of The Moon And Luminous Mindfulness
“The moon is a loyal companion. It never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do. Every day it’s a different version of itself. Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human. […]
F Is For Forgiveness
“I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.” — The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Hurt announces his arrival with a deafening cacophony of cymbals and trumpets and accordions. He slips into a tuxedo and a […]
The Dawn Of The Soul..
It was almost morning When I heard the voice. A voice that said, “You got to wake up!” Loud and clear like the tinkling of a bell A voice like no other Melodious yet firm gentle yet powerful Exhilarating mind, body and soul Pulling me to my work desk Till I sat upright with restless […]
Authenticity Is Joy
Life is hard to define. Sometimes a mystery, sometimes a revelation. A unique blend of sorrows and joys, closures and beginnings, tears and laughter, crests and troughs. I believe we waste too much of precious energy over why, what ifs and should haves. I’ve done that all my life and ended up feeling more […]
FB Detox For A Purposeful Life
I became a citizen of the Facebook universe in circa 2006 and tasted for the first time, the pleasures of rampant social networking. Despite coming from the professional field of Public Relations and having represented the buzzing world of hotels for the better part of my career, I always seemed to saddle the fence between extroversion and […]
Rangoon: Unwieldy And Bloody Long
There is a big noise in the media about just who Vishal Bhardwaj’s Rangoon belongs to. Well, it does not belong to either Kangana Ranaut or Shahid Kapoor. Or Saif Ali Khan for that matter. It belongs to no one and well, nowhere because Vishal Bhardwaj, whose Maqbool and Omkara cohesively wove Indian narratives into Shakespearean […]