Swami Vivekananda on India’s Caste Problem

Swami Vivekananda on India’s Caste Problem

March 26, 20174 mins

[Editor’s Note: I don’t recall from which of his books I found this extract. It’s been sitting in my Drafts folder for 4.5 years and is eminently worth a read.] A man from the highest caste and a man…

The Real Indistructibles

The Real Indistructibles

March 26, 20171 mins

Editor’s Note: There were middle class values in the 60’s/70’s/80’s and there are middle class values now. Big big difference. The old adage used to be “if it’s not broken, why fix it”. And if…

A proposal in Lincoln Park, Chicago

A proposal in Lincoln Park, Chicago

March 13, 20173 mins

I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then…

Ravi Varma in a Vijayawada home

Ravi Varma in a Vijayawada home

February 19, 20175 mins

{Editor’s Note: My mother is a late adopter of the Internet. In the pre-Internet era, she used to write the loveliest of long letters to her children. The letters stopped after I returned to India. In…

Day of the gritty knock

Day of the gritty knock

January 17, 201711 mins

If the race wasn’t worth writing about, you didn’t give it your all. – A donkey [Editor’s Note: This is my Mumbai Marathon 2017 race report masquerading as a three-part cricket metaphor laced…

Let the ass kicking begin…

Let the ass kicking begin…

December 13, 20162 mins

It was my second year of playing squash seriously. ‘Seriously‘ doesn’t mean I was any good yet. I was at that rookie stage of a squasher’s evolution when I was constantly looking for easy winners…

When in Rome be a barefoot runner

When in Rome be a barefoot runner

December 02, 20162 mins

When in Rome be a Roman. If you are a runner there’s possibly no better city than Bangalore for year-round running. There’s at most one hot month and even then the mornings are nothing remotely like…

Three Act Play for the Fourth Time

Three Act Play for the Fourth Time

November 14, 20166 mins

“The human being, by and large, is a very bad companion for himself; where he has to face himself for any length of time, he acquires a deep disgust and a restless anxiety which makes him seek almost…

I’m racing, not running!

I’m racing, not running!

October 23, 20166 mins

Progress is linearly proportional to one’s efforts but results often come in cycles. – several wise men Coming off a 22-month streak, the 2013-14 season was looking rather normal. KTM in Sep followed…

A marriage in the winter of 1962

A marriage in the winter of 1962

October 18, 20168 mins

[Editor’s Note: My mother is a late adopter of the Internet. In the pre-Internet era, she used to write the loveliest of long letters to her children. The letters stopped after I returned to India. In…