The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell

I had never heard of Henning Mankell but I had heard, and even seen a couple of episodes, of Wallander. I couldn’t take the glacial pace, and the perpetually pissed looking Kenneth Brannagh after two or three episodes so I didn’t go further. But when I began reading “The Man from Beijing” I was immediately...

Verseday: Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver

One of the things I wanted to do this year was to reconnect with poetry. I had immensely enjoyed digging out lesser known poems or discovering new poets when I used to post Versedays on my old blog a few years ago. The blog fell to disuse, and I forgot all about Versedays. But now...

Day 20: Colours

I am not proud of the quality of this photo. But I chose it because of the thought that arose when I saw it waving in the light, balmy breeze. No individual is made up of a single colour. We all have the green of envy, the blues of melancholy, the red of anger, the...

Day 19: Life in Macro

Ever since I swapped my Samsung S3 for my current Sony Xperia I have been unhappy with the quality of the macro shots that its camera takes. While the Samsung was able to get really up close to an object, and snap sharp images, the Sony goes completely out of focus beyond a certain point....

Day 18: Not Just Another Sunset

Sunrises and sunsets are two of the most common occurrences that we take for granted. What’s so different every day, you may ask. For me, it’s the very fact that I get to see one every day. “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard, ” said Winnie the Pooh....

Day 17: Stories Untold

The house I visited today had a small area allocated to the Brahma Rakshas. While I had heard of it, I wasn’t really sure of what a Brahma Rakshas was. But this little raised platform surrounded by a thick grove fascinated me. The place around it was somehow atmospheric. It wore a desolate but well-kept...

Day 16: When Losing is Fun

I have barely played Scrabble. And yet, it has always been one of my favourite board games simply because I enjoy testing my vocabulary. While I have played the odd game or two during childhood it is only in recent times that I got more opportunities to play Scrabble. I remember the uproarious fun I...

Day 15: Early Bird

A nest hangs just outside the window of the front room. Its residents are two tiny sunbirds waiting for their parents to come with food. I stood watching in the mellow morning sun as the young ones waited patiently, and the father, in all his resplendent colours came fluttering with food in his mouth. He...

Day 14: Mango Season

How many times do we reminisce about childhood summers spent climbing trees, picking mangoes, and licking the sweet, sticky juice off those fruits? Today I got to relive a sliver of it when I helped pluck fresh green mangoes from the tree in my in-laws’ house. I stood in the brilliant, golden sunshine soaking in...

Day 13: Time

I felt the hand of Time as I walked through Bazaar Street in Fort Kochi yesterday. This three kilometer stretch that ends in Jew Town is packed with slices of Cochin’s mercantile history, which can be seen in its many ancient multi-storied warehouses. Some of the buildings display more recent time stamps from the 1900’s...

Day 11: Performances

I spotted this framed picture showing the ‘Navarasangal’ or ‘nine emotions’ adorning the wall at the Kerala Fine Arts Hall in Cochin today, where I had gone to see a puppet show. A student of dance has to master this essential set of facial expressions to convey emotions effectively. But I wondered how effective it...

Day 10: Dark

The dark has always been associated with negativity, bad energies, and everything that’s not really good for you. But there are some things dark that are not only good for you but also act like a serious dose of sunshine on a gloomy day. For me, that’s a big chunk of dark chocolate. It elevates...