<<An Ode to Brigadier Lidder by His Friend>> #Brotherhood #IndianArmy How do you even start writing an obituary for a classmate? How do you sound respectful and reverent? When all the memories flitting through your mind are memories of mindless mischief? There are of course other memories too. Memories which…

Punjabi By Nature My new friend is a synthetic rubber sheet businessman from Jalandhar. He is teaching me the intricacies of the phrase ‘Punjabi by Nature’: body language, sound levels while talking, sound levels while laughing, sense of joking, falana, falana. He is such full on entertainment, his each dialogue…

Once Upon A Time in Kumbh #OnceUponATime #KumbhMainMile #FilmmakingLessons When i was small, I loved watching random interviews on TV. That was DD zamana. While the main interview would be on a serious-ish conversation about an ‘issue’: price rise, weather, kehti … cast religion politics … anything … My interest…

#Linga #Tantra #Words #Meanings Consider this. What are written words? Lines, curves, shapes. A, B, C. Shapes that acquire sound, then, meaning. A, ae, apple. B, bee, ball. The basis of text is an image. The basis of a communication is an image or a sound that we all agree…

The Direction. Have you thought about it? I don’t mean the direction of putting the delicious food in your mouth, that’s clear enough. But the direction in which you sit, while you are eating food. The ancients, and not so ancients — for this knowledge ran in some families till…

#QuikBites #AncientIndia Once upon a time in India We used to have a special kind of cow #Ghee #Ghrtam #ClarifiedButter. A ghee preserved from 11 to — hold your breath — 100 years in a vessel called कुम्भघृत kumbhaghrta. And also — now don’t hold your breath, or the consequences…

< #Migrants: who are they? > A few hours I spent with Parbati Devi from Ara, Bihar on the streets of #Delhi, eight years ago. This may offer a glimpse into the #cultural richness and micro #enterprise of the people behind the faceless label and images we see of them…

aka Ganesha & HaryanaKeTauJi Some stories have to just quickly be told, no matter how busy-busy you are. For if you don’t, they are going to rumble in your tummy ALL the time. Or worst, salivate in your mouth. I’ll tell you how. This happened, some time ago. A friend…

God’s Land: The BSF officer and the Rabaari #SlideStories #FlashBack #Khadeer #RannofKutch #Gujarat #India 2001: Just after the Bhuj earthquake. Village to village. Home to home. I had been roaming Kutch for over 40 days now. Photographing, meeting, absorbing. Common people. …