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...

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...

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...

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....

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....

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...

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...