Articles

Just as May Day in Oxford mixes the sacred and the profane/secular (Magdalen College choristers singing in the dawn and wasted undergrads flinging themselves with abandon into the murky Cherwell), so the Spanish Catalans make merry family outings to the Abbey of Montserrat near Barcelona. On a pristine Spring morning Philippa and I zipped up […] Read more

Until the age of twenty-two  I had a secret wish to be a sailor. Later, somewhat burdened by my own and others’ expectations, I dreamed of  driving a  a bus. (Routine, predicability, timetable, boredom, then home to write the novel after supper). My ambition was to sail a proper ship that crossed the Indian Ocean, […] Read more

Two friends from CJM, my Convent school in Delhi, became political activists and distinguished themselves in unforgettable ways. A third friend created the National Dairy Development Board, an extraordinary infrastucture which  supplies the nation with milk  through a network of  cooperatives. This blog, however, is dedicated to the one and only June/Jaya Jaitly, nee Chettur, […] Read more

In the distant past, Joan Baez sang with a voice shimmering with transparence and shot through with sweet purity. Children of the Sixties instantly identified with her songs of innocence and experience, tossing gauntlets of hope and visions of Utopia at our grubby, toe-ringed feet. We dreamed of wearing our hair long and ironed, entwined […] Read more

This is the gospel of GBT (Great British Things) according to the Times columnist, chief Sports Writer, Simon Barnes. 1.The Suffolk Coast: reeds, saline lagoons,the volatile, shifting, changing landscape, home of the bitterns, marsh harriers and avocets. 2. The curry houses of Drummond Street. 3. A Dance to the Music of Time. the 12-novel sequence […] Read more

  The eight week vacation begins and the University swimming pool is looking de-cluttered once more. The feng-shui is welcome also in the changing rooms, which in term time ring to the undergrad ladettes trying to outvy one another with tales of sexual and alcohol related frolics; but the youthful energy injects a buzz in […] Read more

    This is a normal lunchtime in the exclusive precincts of the Delhi Golf Club, built by the British in 1931. Membership has been closed for some while. The championship golf course is landscaped around exquisite 15-16thth century sandstone Muslim tombs and summerhouses, built by the invaders from Afghanistan and further North. Its welcome […] Read more

Feudalism with its many different forms is like the MSRA bacteria. Maybe in 200 years it will be winkled out of all the crevices, nooks and corners in India; another 300 years to disinfect and fumigate the soil which nourishes every cockroach manifestation. Demanding bribes as well as giving them is the elemental result of […] Read more

Why Defence Colony? Well, what had originally been farmland was acquistioned by government, divided into building plots and sold to members of the Armed Forces in the 50s at heavily subsidized prices. An old lady in swinging long skirt, man’s overshirt with breast pockets, scratched spectacles, heavy silver anklets and bracelets told me she had […] Read more