March is the month of awakening. It is the month of the first rays of warm sunshine, of the first flowers, the vernal equinox, and of festivals. As a kid, we were introduced to the very concept of Spring (which is near non-existent in South India) through the work of English poets. We grew up...
This week was all about the Audi Dublin International Film Festival (ADIFF), which is an annual event consisting of screenings of movies from all over the world. It’s usually a very difficult task to pick a few movies because all of them seem so good but I do restrict myself to two or three. This...
Over the past week, I finished reading three books. Two of them were extremely slim volumes, and absolute pageturners, which made it very easy for me to finish them quickly. Here are my reviews. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson Train Dreams pulled me in right away with its opening lines, In the summer of 1917 Robert...
Europe is in the grip of a heightened cold snap due to a Siberian freeze that’s bringing with it numbing winds and snow. Dublin is feeling it too. February is supposed to be the month when spring begins in Ireland. I am only now beginning to see signs of it when I spotted the first...
Five movies this week. I feel decadent. But the movies were all mostly good, and it was a good mix of English, Hindi, and Tamil. While Aruvi was unexpectedly disappointing, Qarib Qarib Singlle was unexpectedly good. Here’s a brief roundup. Coco (English) Coco was a surprise watch this week and I am glad I got to...
There is something sad and heartbreaking about an orange tree ruing its fruitless state. That’s why the moment I chanced upon this poem I decided to highlight it for “Versedays” this week. Written by Frederico Garcia Lorca, one of Spain’s most loved poets of the 20th century, The Song of the Barren Orange Tree immediately...
I am on a catch-up-on-Oscar-nominations spree! The last weekend I saw two of the movies from the Oscar nominations list. Here are my very brief thoughts on both. The Shape of Water The Shape of Water maybe tired storytelling in terms of its theme – boy/girl who falls in love with monster stands to meet...
In the past week, I finished reading two books. Come to think of it, both books were about the struggle with being different, and both had children as the focus. But while I thoroughly enjoyed reading one, the other was marred by an overdose of quirkiness. Here are my reviews. Little Warrior (aka Don’t Tell...
I came across a news item today that made my mouth water. In what it described as a ‘dream job’ the article described how Cadbury is looking for a chocolate and cocoa taster. But would I love chocolate if it became a job to taste it? I don’t know. Anyway, chocolate set the theme for this...
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...
