The Herbal Feast

Even for those of us not currently getting married, the Wedding Season is upon us. With pressed suit and shining shoes, several evenings are being devoted every week to seeing off sundry relatives and acquaintances into the jaws of matrimony. And, apart from the traffic jams caused by multiple baraats and multitudes of guests flitting from sangeet to reception, it’s a happy time in Delhi.

Hobbies for the Horizontally Inclined

It isn’t easy being a nature lover. People expect so much more from you. If you haven’t hugged a couple of trees before breakfast and knocked off a poacher or two by mid-afternoon, people think you aren’t doing the job right.

The Bollywood We Don't

Now that Bombay has officially reverted to being Mumbai, the big question being asked in nomenclatural circles is whether Bollywood too should be renamed Mollywood? The big hitch, of course, is that the Malayalam film industry already bears that name and will probably not agree to being called Kollywood (after Kerala) since that would conflict with the Kannada film industry.

Almost Heaven

Say what you want about them, but Americans really like America. And not just in the zealous, ‘this-is-my-motherland-and-I-will-lay-down-somebody’s-life-for-it’ kind of way. Nor am I talking about the patriotic hypermush that causes films like Independence Day and their subsequent triumphs at the Oscars. What I find really cool is the less lofty, more everyday kind of affection that finds its way into songs and on to t-shirts.

Not The One

I used to be able to point at a car from among traffic and sexistly pronounce, “That’s being driven by a woman.” Any ladies in the car with me would, of course, immediately assault me with cries of ‘MCP’ etc.; but in eight cases out of ten, I’d be right.

Diagonal in Delhi

I’ve had it up till here with people saying that Delhi’s drivers are a rude and uncultured lot. It’s simply not true. Well, ‘rude’ may be true, but ‘uncultured’ definitely not. Delhi’s drivers have, in fact, a demonstrably literary bent of mind. And as proof of same I point to the pervasive influence of Harry Potter.

Radio Daze

Ever notice how radio stations have this astounding property of cloning themselves? Of course you have. All of us experience their sameness every morning and evening on our daily drive. A 10% variation in the song selection and about 15% in the annoyance levels generated by the RJs. Half the time it’s impossible to say which station is playing without checking the display.