by Kalpana M. | Nov 8, 2017 | Desi Lens
Over thirty years ago on an afternoon in Chennai, when lizards crawled down pipes and crows danced on coconut trees, the tenant renting the apartment above our home tapped on the grilled door leading into our living room. I walked towards the door wondering if the man...
by Jaya Padmanabhan | Nov 3, 2017 | Now & Then
In the December 22, 1941 issue of Life magazine there is an article titled “How to Tell Japs from the Chinese.” A Chinese public servant and a Japanese warrior are presented to the reader and the racial differences between the two are explicitly highlighted. The...
by Nirupama | Nov 2, 2017 | Editorial
Males and the power they exercised in the last election cycle continues to be discussed. Male sexual impropriety in the fields of technology, Hollywood and television are hard to miss. Discussions of the actions of men seem to be all around us. Something that rarely...
by Kalpana M. | Oct 15, 2017 | Desi Lens
At the time I got the news about the new indulgences of parents, I was drinking a nice cup of ginger chai which shot up my nose and burned my nasal passages. I’d just learned that many Indian-American parents had begun hiring college counselors the summer after their...
by Sarita S. | Oct 6, 2017 | Last Word
In a Barcelona hotel room, I suffered a nervous breakdown. Almost. Why was I roaming the far reaches of the planet, I wondered, where many Indian women dared not go? Jet lagged and exhausted, I located the bus station and bought myself a ticket, then woke up at 3 a.m....
by Jaya Padmanabhan | Oct 4, 2017 | Now & Then
Recently, a friend asked me what I considered the best Barack Obama speech and it took me an instant or two to respond decisively with “the race speech.” It wasn’t as though I recalled many of the details, but I did remember the timbre of Obama’s voice as he talked...
