“Why was that lady out so late at night anyway?” people asked when the first news reports came out about the Delhi woman who was gang raped inside a moving bus. I wondered why not. In a free country, a woman should have the independence to be where she wants to be at any time [...]
Chennai in December
Today was a big day in many parts of India’s Chennai. December 1st is the official start of the Chennai December music and dance festival. At Narada Gana Sabha, one of Chennai’s popular music and dance venues, one organization, Kartik Fine Arts, kicked off its two-week festival. There were speeches, awards, honorees, smiles, laurels and [...]
Not just your Standard Diwali
I’ve returned to Diwali week in my home town in India after twenty eight years and I’m slightly disappointed by the dullness of the season in a changing India. Although the mood has shifted somewhat in the last half day just a few hours prior to the dawn of Diwali morning, there has been very [...]
Finding Jeeva in a Park
Down the road from my father’s home in Chennai’s shopping district called T. Nagar stands Jeeva Park. Residents of this neighborhood walk all day until the mosquitoes come out to feast. The word “jeeva” in Sanskrit means “life.” On some nights, it’s believed that these winged visitors can suck the “jeeva” out of the park’s [...]
A Super Judge reminisces about a Super Singer
In Fall 2011, I was drawn to the musical adventures of a talented young girl called Pragathi Guruprasad whom I had seen out and about in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. I knew her parents. I’d heard her sing. I’d seen the child at Carnatic music competitions and events where my son [...]
Perfect Hands
The day my mother passed away, at the age of 75, her sister, Rasamma, was 90. She, “Periamma”, meaning, literally, “older mother”, wept in silence when she met my sister and me. “No one but our maker knows why and when we come and go,” she said. She regaled us that day with stories about [...]
A Kolam to begin the Day
It’s Tamil New Year’s Day today. In every culture, spring brings renewal of the material and the spiritual. I touched upon this in my post on the day of the Iranian New Year. Every traditional festival or celebration in the Tamil culture of South India begins with one ritual: the elaborate drawing of a kolam using [...]
Recent Comments