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

In the very heart of Lutyens’ New Delhi the Gol Dakhana (Round Post Office) is one landmark among several- the cream and red brick Cathedral of the Redemption, the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, the Hanuman Mandir and my old school, the Convent of Jesus and Mary, which I still think of with fondness. The tall wrought […] Read more

Mornings begin with a constitutional in the vicinity of the sacred peepul. Round and round the track they go in their highlighted Adidas, in twos and sometimes threes, talking not of Michelangelo but the stock market, wicked sisters-in-law and the price of onions. The streets are being swept by Har Chandi and her team. Her […] Read more