Once upon a City

Magical monsoon tour What’s good about being caught in the rain without an umbrella? It frees captive eyes to observe things mindfully, minutely. You could be pounding the same streets daily without really noticing the…

Who were les Filles de la Croix? This is back-to-school month for most kids. Time to tell the story of the origins of my alma mater in Bandra. The beautiful, red brick St Joseph’s Convent…

It takes a village to bless a city The 1st of May marks the Feast of the Holy Cross, celebrated throughout the maze of little paths making up Matharpacady. Estimated to be 300 years old,…

Persia under the pines I’m in Tel Aviv this week. Mind and mood throwback to a lakeside retreat in Maine twelve years ago. At that unforgettable fortnight-long meet for writers and teachers, convened by the…

Think pink It’s the time of year when Bombay bursts with beautiful summer blooms. With vermilion gulmohar and burnished laburnum, pastel-perfect bougainvillea and dreamy clouds of mussaenda bushes. Lanes crowned by leafy canopies seem to roll…

Speak softly love Valentine’s is the right day to recap how romantic Bombay once played and pined, danced and dined. To start with my own folks in the late 1950s… The moment my father popped…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas The Dickensian alleys of Sonapur village in Dhobi Talao come alive most interestingly around Christmas. In Wellington Terrace, on the street saluting physician-mayor Simon Fernandes, residents miss…

The Yogi and the Musician We all live surrounded by history. The street I am on, once housed the Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute, honouring the jurist-philanthropist who has the road named after him too. Nestled…

Indian women on Venus Do you know, three Indian women are on Venus? Well, their names grace a trio of craters on the solar system’s hottest planet. All identified craters here bear names of women…