That scene in K Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam? Where Nigar Sultana stealthily puts on the bejewelled crown of the future queen of Hindustan? Well, you know exactly what was on Bhansali’s mind when Priyanka Chopra tries on her Peshwa’s warrior helmet to preen before a mirror. Like Nigar Sultana’s Bahaar, Priyanka’s Kashi Bai in Bajirao Mastani […]
In my home in Patiala, I had designed a little wall ornament with painted cherries and a quote, ”Enough is as good as a feast.” That statement comes back to me at the end of each year when I take stock of not what I earned but what I learned over a span of 365 days. […]
How does one explain evil? Paris? Syria? The tragedy of a refugee who is now a non-person in the absence of a home, a geographical, historical, personal reference point? Who has seen a missile tear into his home, his wife, his daughter and who now has to start again with what remains in a country […]
As I wait for the city to limp back to life between power cuts, internet troubles and cell phones with no signal, I feel like I have been stripped down to the bare minimum. No more escaping reality by drowning oneself in technology. Suddenly there is too much free time and too many people around […]
Being a student of Women’s Studies can be extremely frustrating- everything you thought you believed in is deconstructed and you feel guilty every time you sing along to Honey Singh (yes, I know the words of Chaar Botal Vodka). You feel guilty every time you enjoy pretty much any Bollywood film. You realize that Shah Rukh […]
I have always been proud of the fact that my family embraced different cultures and religions with equal love and joy. My father is a Hindu Rajput from Gharwal, Uttrakhand and my mother a Muslim from Srinagar, Kashmir. They fell in love in the 80’s and got married after a little resistance from some of […]
Back in Delhi, when I was a little girl, there used to be a tikki, chaat and golgappa vendor who would pass by our street every evening. The distinct sounds of ‘tun-tun’ that the steel ladle made as it hit the iron tawa and the sizzling and sputtering of the golden fried crispy potato patties […]
Matar aur Kulcha, a spicy and tangy street food of Delhi evokes a lot of strong memories. We used to wait for the local Matar Kulcha vendor’s cycle cart and his distinct bell. The matar gravy would cook slowly in a brass pot or ‘pateeli’ over a coal angeethi. The air would be filled […]
Delhi is where I was born and raised and it still tugs at my heart with all the memories of my mother’s redolent, welcoming kitchen. My mother’s cooking was simple and honest and yet on certain occasions, she prepared rare delicacies that were both complex and beguiling. The flavours of certain dishes have the ability to […]
Delhi is the receptacle of bold flavours and a myriad cuisines but it is the local food that is unlike anything you will find anywhere else. Dilli ka khaana is a special memory for all those who have grown up in Delhi and traversed its lanes to hunt for the best paranthas and chaats. In […]
I haven’t seen Pakistani director Mehreen Jabbar’s acclaimed film Ramchand Pakistani but her television work has been an utter revelation. It is the kind of story telling that flows like life, lingers on window sills like sunlight, feels like the warmth of a coffee cup between your hands on a chilly morning and is […]
While watching Imtiaz Ali’s latest film Tamasha, Eckhart Tolle’s bestseller, A New Earth came back to me. He writes how accumulated memories of angst, humiliation, denial, emotional suppression and anger form an invisible pain body within our body. In most people, this pain body remains unreactive till a trigger presents itself. And then there is […]