A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Holiday trends during Covid seem to indicate that families and solo travellers are flocking to India's jungles for a taste of the wildlife. At times, safaris in Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh remain sold out for months on end. If standing in queue to spot the elusive tiger puts you off or...
AH-MEN ! Coco Chanel, the Queen of haute couture, once said: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” The phrase ‘Haute Couture’ or ‘High Fashion’ was used for the first time in 1908 and...
TAKE BACK THE POWER Hillary Clinton said: “…..human rights are women’s rights - and women’s rights are human rights. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely - and the right to be heard”. Unfortunately it has been easy for women to get lost in history. Swimming against the current, women...
AWAITING THE JAB As we wait with bated breath for the news of when we need to visit the public or private facilities to roll up our sleeves and take the first vaccine shot, I cannot help but wonder at the sheer enormity of this exercise keeping in mind our overpopulated country. The BMC in Mumbai, and...
THE SECOND WAVE The vaccine is out, the numbers were dropping, we were almost back to resuming our lives post lockdown (some happily, some reluctantly), and now suddenly it is almost like having an almost realized dream snatched away. It upset us, we ranted about the inconvenience of another lockdown/ restrictions forced on us; we blamed the...
ASSESSING THE BUDGET Every year, Budget Day leaves people a nervous wreck. This year, specifically in light of the Covid situation, people were on the edge trying to anticipate which way the cookie would crumble and how would it impact their businesses, their personal lives and the economy in general. Rumours were adrift that taxes were...
SUPER TRACK RECORDS As the local trains start this week for the first time since the lockdown, here is but a mere glimpse of her rich history...
FEED THE HUNGRY We are taught from a very young age that Food is a Basic Human Right. Words that we just parrot in school and then accept as adults to be true. We have no actual appreciation for the privilege of never knowing true hunger. Hunger, if we skip a meal, makes us cranky or fussy...
HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY In less than a hundred years, India managed to gain independence from a monarchy, make a mark on the global horizon and evolve in all aspects of community life. But none of this would be possible if not for the historic sacrifices and vision of our hot-blooded Freedom Fighters. Bal Gangadhar Tilak famously proclaimed “Swaraj...
AUSPICIOUS MAKAR SANKRANT As we dawn into the beginning of this New Year, one must acknowledge the auspicious day of January 14 – which is the very beginning of a good start in the Hindu calendar. “Makar Sankranti” or “Makar Sankrant” as it is known, is a celebration of triumph with colour, pride and joy – in...
NEW YEAR (DECADE), NEW US! My wish for all of us this year is that we make mistakes. Because making mistakes means making new things in the form of trying, learning, living, pushing ourselves, changing ourselves, changing the world around us. Do things we’ve never done before, and more importantly, given the year we all have survived...
THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS “And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ‘till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas,...