Stalking Rice
Rice < a swamp grass that is widely cultivated as a source of food, especially in Asia. > Early last year, I was watching everything that made its way fro
On Inglish
Under The Peepal Tree
Peepal < fig tree of India noted for great size and longevity; lacks the prop roots of the banyan; regarded as sacred by Buddhists > I knew that the word
Langur Around the Bend
When I consulted a dictionary on the Internet, I found out that the langur monkey lived on “grain, fruit, pods of leguminous trees and young buds and leaves
On a Reunion Dinghy
"I see we don’t have life-jackets,” my friend Bernie said, grimacing. We were high school classmates from Tanzania on a summer holiday and we had been plann
All That Tamasha
tamasha noun. a grand show, performance, or celebration, especially one involving dance; a fuss or confusion. I had been reading Ramachandra Guha’s India Afte
A Thug Among Us
Thug noun. a violent person, especially a criminal. a member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India. Thugs waylaid and strangled their vi
My One-Eyed Ayah
“We felt truly sorry for the nanny-children,” writes M. M. Kaye in The Sun In The Morning, a memoir of her magical childhood in India. While Mollie Kaye was
Pugree People
In the third week of April, a Norwegian YouTube video with English subtitles bounced off of Facebook walls. It showed two Sikh males unreeling yards of fabric i
Not a Techwallah
As he graduated with a double major in computer science and cognitive science a few weeks ago, our son made it clear to us that unlike his father and some of hi
So Suave with Shampoo
shampoo, noun. < from Hindi chāmpo, from chāmpnā to knead <1755-65; earlier champo to massage < an inflected form of Hindi cāmpnā literally, to pr
A Wholesome Congee
During my long stays in Chennai, the taste of kanji powers my day. When I return home from my morning walk at Jeeva Park, six slices of salted guava or a season
Delhi Coolie
“To C. R. Park,” I said to the old auto driver. I was waiting outside Hauz Khas village in Delhi looking for a way to get back to my apartment. But Ola cab
