When Tarun announced he was getting married, we were living in Lake Gardens, in the flat made famous by The Cantankerous Cat. This was the ground floor apartment where we dealt with Nosy Neighbours, Peeping Toms and performed Midnight Cooking Rituals to the consternation of our neighbours. Yes, that one. Tarun was in…
The other day I bought some cherries. Sunday, it was, yes, I remember well. I bought the cherries home and washed them and ate them and they were good. I also had occasion to visit a Bengali sweet shop and The Good Lady bought some kaancha chena. Literally translated it means "raw cottage cheese".…
I just explored a new career possibility as a painter. Which should surprise you, no? So far, as you know, I have displayed no artistic ability at all. I've taken the odd photograph, yes, with a couple of photo essays. One was about spring and the other was about fall. I have even showed…
This was my second ( or third, if you include the Nepal adventure ) foreign trip and I had much on my mind. This was my second trip to North America and the first hadn't exactly been a carefree and joyous one, if you remember. I don't think it is easy to describe…
Actually, the notes are not early. They're late. Late by about 19 years now, will be exactly 19 years late on the 2nd of June 2016. Yes, you are very correct in your maths. I arrived in the great country of Canada on the 2nd of June, 1997. ( Sorry. I wrote this when…
I think you all know by now, or should, that I moved countries. In fact, I moved continents. Not physically, no. No, not literally! That's impossible! I moved myself from one continent to the other nearly 2 decades ago. Whew! I'm glad we got that sorted out. Well, I had a request to…
So here we go again. Another travelogue. This time to a hunting cottage of the Kings of France. Now if you're thinking about a run down, ramshackle wooden cabin in the woods, remember: This is France It had a Revolution ( The Revolution ) yup! Capital T, Capital R. Long before the Ruskies, the…
I'd known about the walking bit. In fact, I'd gone out of my way to buy some comfortable walking shoes. But, as the poet Burns said, the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley. It was entirely my fault and the fault of my map-reading skills. Apparently, I'd forgotten a…
My stay in Chennai was not a very happy one. I was already well-short of being gruntled. ( see history in Part 1 ) I found the ultra-conservative nature of the locals disconcerting. Every light switch, every fan, fan regulator, every keyboard, monitor and tape was (more…)
I once worked for a very large IT / computer company. This job led to some very strange experiences. A lot of it was due to my inexperience with the world and my lack of communication skills. ( Which continue to plague me to this day... :) ) As a newly wed, I was often…