Samovar.....

Funny - I keep postponing writing about my favourite city Mumbai - and then I hear heartbreaking news about places I like shutting down - like Samovar.

Samovar café which was squeezed behind the Jehangir Art gallery at Kaala Ghoda and oversaw the unkempt lawns of the prince of wales museum (now called... yes, you guessed it)



I cant think of anyone not liking Samovar

My new love - Haruki Murakami (and art films)

Being a late laggard has its advantages.  I discover Haruki Murakami thanks to Scheherazade in the New Yorker and am instantly hooked.  The advantage is that there is a great, and big body of work to now savour given how prolific this author has been (writing since the 1980s).

However, Haruki is not everyone’s cup of tea and can be challenging – and perhaps that challenge is the very thing that makes his short stories and novels interesting.

Haruki’s stories can have various effects – right from melancholy, to surprise, regret, an epiphany, nostalgia, interest – the whole panoply of emotions can come through at any point. As you go through them. But the one which is inevitable is a strong desire to discuss this immediately.

Saturday Night Live - SNL rocks !!!

I had been meaning to write about this one for a long time, but with the 40th year anniversary celebrations, its just right.

I never knew about SNL till the last few years.  I had heard the phrase 'Live from NY' quite a few times but couldn't place the reference. But now I know and I can understand the privilege and honor to both host and perform for SNL

Main Radha tu mera shaam from Vishwaroop

Some songs from Indian films are simply outstanding.

And since I love dancing and theatre, those with an element of dance are also my favourites. 

Whats better is when the entire things comes together beautifully on screen.  This one almost does...

Haruki Murakami's “Scheherazade" in the New Yorker

Short stories can be tricky and I think the jury is out on what really makes a good short story.  When I got around to reading the short stories outside my textbooks -  This is very different, I realized,  from what I read in school - which were mostly reeeeally short as in SHORT stories. Most of the stuff I read in school were the shorter ones by RK Narayan (malgudi) and O Henry etc.

So, some very good ones would actually not be very short at all. I quite liked reading Maugham's stories from the orient, and expatriate life back in the days when colonization was in its last days. Jeffrey archer, Roald Dahl, Jhumpa Lahiri etc. were some of my favourites (and I think the entire list would be difficult to put down ehre)