Coffee was an essential part of my childhood. My earliest memories include waking up to the rich aroma of filter coffee in the mornings. Being given black coffee in a mini steel tumbler whenever I came down with a fever. My grandmother firmly believed that drinking a shot of black coffee with a pinch of...
My earliest exposure to Telugu films was when watching Doordarshan in the 1980s-90s. The images of Chiranjeevi in purple pants and purple shirts singing in meadows with equally colourful heroines are etched in my mind. At the time, the mere mention of Telugu movies would bring forth laughter from everyone around me. I cringe. I...
Before I started living in Ireland, I had no real notion of seasonal changes other than what I read in books. In Bangalore, the weather was always perfect. Pleasant, breezy, warm, sweet. Travelling helped me experience different kinds of weather, from snow to torrid rain to extreme heat. But I had never been in a...
It’s around the first week of April that I begin to see the light. When I wake up at 6.00 am and draw the curtains to see the soft light of dawn beginning to spread across purple skies. Skies that remained dark most of the time until then given the short winter hours. It is...
April is National Poetry Month, and I thought how better to celebrate it than by honouring the mesmerizing cherry blossoms that are beginning to show everywhere! In Japan, this is prime hanami (flower watching) season, a time that brings together Japanese families as they gather for picnics beneath the shade of the cherry trees. The custom...
As Ireland gears up for the onslaught of tourists for St Patrick’s Day (17th March) it struck me that this would be my third St. Patrick’s Day here in this beautiful city of Dublin. Every year, for 2 to 3 days Dublin is turned into a heaving mass of green as tourists throng from all...
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...
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...
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 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...
