Vasanthi Hariprakash

05/12/2021

But losing touch with mother tongue is not phunny:), my thoughts in my column Window Seat this week.
It is up to us to save our dialects from dying.
https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/opinion/english-is-a-phunny-language-but-it-is-having-the-last-laugh-1057725.html

Let me begin by giving you a test. Say this line in your mother tongue, quickly -- without using a single syllable of English: I am going to the market to buy vegetables like tomato and carrot because my friends are coming home for dinner. Did you get 10 on 10? Did you struggle for carrot? What is t...

10/10/2021

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/you-think-drugs-happens-only-to-star-kids-and-rich-spoilt-brats-1039130.html

No strata of society is spared the drug menace. Rural, rich, poor, those on streets, from broken families, those in happy homes – all are vulnerable, some more than others. And every person deserves rehabilitation and society’s support, equally.

15/08/2021

Our discomfort with talking money, yet curiosity about money and how badly we want to know how much money the others are making...

This and moneymoney thoughts I share with you this time in my column Window Seat in today's Deccan Sunday Herald.

“How much money did that state government give Neeraj Chopra?” “4 crore rupees…BCCI also gave him a crore, it seems?” “And one more state also gave…Manipur? Wait, I can’t remember.” “Oh, 6 crores?!” “But, for him, it’s all worth it, leave it.”

14/08/2021

Suno suno suno.. why you need to be not just awakened citizen on August 15 but awake citizen too!..

Tomorrow 7 am India time I am going to be dressed in a Karnataka handloom saree sitting before my laptop to .... Weave India Together:).

Absolutely looking forward to this Independence Day assignment, invited by Shreni that is hosting sales of weavers' sarees to relieve some of their financial burdens. Program supported by NABARD.

Do log in to www.shreni.net tomorrow morning on August 15 (US 630 pm West Coast, 930 pm East coast) and tell aaal your US and India sareeloving men and women - to see sarees shown by weaver cooperatives themselves u can buy, or just see.
Organizations:

Udupi saree, Kasuti of North Karnataka, Punarjeevana Sakhi Saphalya Bagalkote and Charaka.

Do see buy support share!..

14/08/2021

Today around 1130 am I shall do some entrepreneur-talk. For a program by PESIT educational institutions.

With the founders of digital businesses Bounce, Koo and Udaan, to ask the not so obvious questions, what are the actual challenges in such businesses, how do they deal with the dangers of digital, data confidentiality, the loss of the personal touch.. while asking them to share their personal stories of what made them think up to start the business they did, and what tips and skill suggestions they would give students who wish to prep to be entrepreneurs from right now!

07/08/2021

Read our writers.
Wear our weaves.
Own our heritage...
Even while you continue to be a Global Indian, not bothered by borders.

That'soll! Simpul.
That's not a pose, that's policy of life to me.

& not just because it's day to honour ...

01/08/2021

When North Karnataka meets Tamil Nadu,

When the Banahatti saree (with its elephant 🐘 motif that weavers make usually for brides, I am told) is draped in Tamil 9-yards style -

That's what I felt like doing on a whim. That is the magic of the Indian saree. It is simply yardage where anyone can meet anything. It is not a piece that comes predecided that 'this is what you have to be' . It doesn't have to be cut to 'suit' anyone. It doesn't have to be tight to leave the wearer pant-ing:). It flows free, the saree, letting you choose what youu want it to be...

My .
Is a story somewhat like my life's.

Click, by the husband.
Saree of Banahatti woven in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, I bought a few months ago as part of initiative to help clear unsold stock of weavers in distress this pandemic. By people like Aparna Ponnappa and Shivani of Shrenis, Smita Kulkarni from the Stonesoup.in, the latter who actually sell menstrual cups!, but stepped up to offer their payment gateway for the saree sales so that those who had never sold online, now could and reach saree fans like me.

25/07/2021

If you feeling gloomy, here is my Sunday story of Hope.for you:

A teacher driven by an extraordinary dream, Satarupa Majumder who I met this April during my solo 18-day travel into West Bengal by road and rail.
A teacher from.Kolkata who's building the first English medium CBSE school for a poverty-struck village block of tribal people in Sunderbans, to give their children a shot at a better future. Read and share the piece from this link:

https://epaper.thehindu.com/Home/MShareArticle?OrgId=GIU8PU1D4.1&imageview=0..

I dedicate this writing of mine in the Hindu today to her loving team of teachers she has built - Abhijit Bhanak, Bikash Biswas . And Jonali Saikia who connected me to Bidisha Bhaduri who connected me to Satarupa as I landed in the Bangla bhoomi to start my Bengal elections reporting journey in April first week!

life

celebrated

18/07/2021

Is there a way to go ahead .. only to step back and become who we were?
An incident in a Bangalore hotel 15 years back triggers that thought in my Sunday column Window Seat this time.
Would love to hear your take, your life experiences too.
https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/panorama/there-s-a-certain-charm-in-staying-unchanged-in-a-fast-changing-world-1009902.html

It was a narrow corridor, right between the restaurant’s kitchen and the dining hall where crisp golden-hued, ghee-laden masala dosas and chutney has been served to generations of Bengalureans. In that corridor where barely two people could stand side by side, stood this old man clad in a white pa...

29/06/2021

Last night I was working away late. It must have been 11ish - I suddenly thought of Shyam Benegal. Like, I really thought a lot about him, how must he be this lockdown season. The gentleman is 86. I suddenly have this urge these days, to wish to meet or hear from people who come to my mind at that moment. 86. I immediately sent Mr Benegal an email asking him about his health.
I wrote without expecting him to reply; well it's okay if he doesn't. I don't know him personally.

I know him as any cinema lover would, or any good Indian should. As a director-maker par excellence of films that define our times - Manthan (mirroring the story of Amul and India's Milkman, Dr Verghese Kurien.. played by the late GIrish Karnad) , Bhumika (stellar one by the late Smita Patil and Amol Palekar), teleserials like Bharat Ek Khoj (Discovery of India, still considered a milestone in TV production), Yatra (a brilliant story series shot entirely on train) and Samvidhan (a look at India's Constitution), besides one on the weavers of India and plennty of documentaries and ad films, known for their rich content and sensitive probing - that he made hrough the 60s, 70s, 80s.

Of course, I know him a wee bit extra as I had invited him as the very first guest of honour to open our Pickle Jar film festival in April 2016 that celebrated the cinema of Smita Patil.

In that programme, at the stately NGMA National Gallery of Modern Art Bangalore, Mr Benegal had spoken with trademark grace. He turned out exactly what he comes across via his films - polite, and principled.

Having been introduced to him by Smita Patil's elder sister, Dr Anita Patil who too was to come from Mumbai for the 3-day festival, we the team had booked him by business class on a flight. Two weeks to go, I got a call from a landline. "Hello", I said a bit strictly into the phone as one would to an unknown number.

"Is that Vasanthi? I am Shyam Benegal here," said the booming voice at the other end. I almost wanted to stand up in attention:)). "Yes Mr Benegal, sorry I did not realise it was you.. "
"That's okay.. can I make a request? Would it be possible to book me on another flight to Bangalore? Only now I saw it's early morning.. at my age I am finding it difficult these days to wake up so early and be at the airport."
"Of course sir," I said, asking my colleagues to quickly look for and book another flight, afternoon same day.
I then called him up an hour later with a bit of trepidation having heard stories of demands and tantrums from friends about even actors who have half a hit film to their credit. "Mr Benegal, I am so sorry, my team says there is no business class available."
"Oh that's fine. All I need is a place to sit on the flight."

And so he came to our film festival by 'cattle class', one of the greatest living directors of Indian cinema, and spent a quiet and wonderful day with all of us..
He did reply, this morning itself. Picture in the comments section.

04/06/2021

My chance this morning to talk to.. Elders!

At 11, have been invited by Nightingales, renowned and regarded elder care enrichment institution that has a day center for people with dementia, works with Bangalore police on an Elders helpline, and works for Active Ageing and Prevention of Elder abuse.

I was asked what I would like to speak on from my life and journey...I thought to myself Who am I to tell elders how to live life?

So all I plan to do is to share pictures from my travels around India in the past 10 years and present without sermonising - 5 people I have met who, in their attitude to life are Zindadil.and so,

Extraordinary among the Ordinary.

23/05/2021

This week in my column, I take a peep into the day of a Covid nurse, and come away with even more respect for those hands that nurse.

From everyone who is healing or has healed from Covid in a hospital, name a nurse or a doctor who you wish to say thanks to.

https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/opinion/can-we-have-a-standing-ovation-for-our-nurses-please-988904.html

Beena may not have a lamp in her hand, but every 10 minutes in the night, the lady quietly checks on Covid patients who have landed in her ICU ward. Bed no. 7 is an easy patient; she has to check only his oxygen saturation levels; and generally keep an eye on him for sudden fluctuations. Young man,....

29/04/2021

These days if someone in a friends or colleagues group hasn't responded to a group message for long, I don't leave it at 'okay they must be busy' or 'not interested'; but I inbox them just to ask, "Things are okay no, healthwise?". And the past 3 days, invariably the answer has been - 'not okay' and the not-okay part isn't about them, but someone in their circle.
It's now commonplace that each of us is getting calls and messages for 'can you help with a hospital bed urgent for this person please' - and that no city no town in India is entirely immune to the Covid horror.
It is unbearable - and I don't need to tell you which part - the visuals of the fire claiming the dead or the tears of the living. Or the fears of living through this all! But here is my list of 4 to cope and not letting crisis paralyse us:

1.Protection
- like charity, begins at home - To the extent possible, not stepping out of home; double-masking when you have to; making sure your masks are dropped off into disinfectants once you are back washed and sunned right away, along with the clothes you have worn to a crowded place (I drop even my shoes/chappal as I anyway wear simple rainproof washable canvas footwear that double as shoes.).
Ditto for the family, especially the kids and the super-seniors.

2.Affection
- just because you can't physically go see your grandmother, inlaws or uncle, doesn't mean that you can't 'see' them. Whatsapp Video call whatelse is for? or Facetime. or whateva. Earlier the thought used to be - don't know how long they will be around, god knows, so let's not hold back. Now tweak it to 'how long we will be around..' (just kidding).

3.Contribution
- if you are the money'giving kind, give; if time'giving for a cause, give; if you are happiness'giving, please give! Figure out how you want to be useful to humanity, even when you are not stepping out of home. People are cooking food as volunteeers for those who have to quarantine each sick in a room; some use their tech to work with governments and NGOs to figure out hospital bed, aid, funds; some are counselling to soothe anxieties and suicidal thoughts, some like this one lady whose name I don't recall but read in the TOI - has offered to come clean your house if you are too tired after Covid. thoughtfulness is limitless!

4.And, Self-preservation
-You too deserve to be happy, to have that mixedfruitjam on that white bread, to see that comedy show on youtube, to chuckle at wicked jokes on friend groups, to give it good to someone acting self-righteous, to get a good big hug from your pet or have a nice big satisfying argument with your annoying partner. Do not guilt trip yourself. Do not be afraid to let go even if it is a group that makes you feel miserable everytime you see messages. Chuck freely.

It's okay to have a 'good time' even while you grieve and are working hard to be there for someone. Be there for yourself too sometimes.

Vasanthi Hariprakash
Pickle Jar

25/04/2021

One line I should have added to the first paragraph in my column, this time on my Bengal travels: Hieun Tsang did not travel during Covid:).

https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/opinion/there-is-more-to-bengal-than-the-khela-that-is-hobe-978319.html

Pickle Jar in Bengal

I like to think I am a bit of a Hiuen Tsang. That Chinese pilgrim who we read about in history books in school? And who crossed over to India in the 7th century to study Buddhism, traversed Tashkent to Takshashila to Kanchi in the south, and who stayed in India for 16 years? Last fortnight, I stayed...

20/04/2021

In my world, I spare none!
Manna Da meets Gurudev Tagore's Kabuliwala meets Bangaali folk Bhawainya music.. in this impromptu jamming we did at Coochbehar, West Bengal after I had finished interviewing this super talented family.

When music is the work of the day, work becomes music to the 👂:))..

With Sanatan Tumpa Sanatan Tumpa
Prasanta Prosun & that child prodigy of 9 who's playing the dhol, Gaur Burman, his father Sanatan Burman by his side.

15/04/2021

Her name in my address book (a fact even she has no clue about) I have saved as Rajashri Balm.

That's because she is Jhandu Balm😀 to so many of us in our national women-media network (Nwmi), her soothing words and smile being just what we want in any high-stress situatiion. This former Telegraph journalist was also among those who went to jail during the Emergency while fighting for the civil rights and freedom of expression.

Rajashri Dasgupta is also THE firost person I called up from Bangalore when I made up my mind that I have to be in Bengal for the elections. Typical of her, she put me through a dozen cautions of traveling alone, worried especially since I don't know Bangla; connected me to Jamal Kidwai and to others who she felt I could gain from knowing; texted me almost every morning - 'How are you doing sunshine? Which part of rural Bengal? Are you safe?"
When I couldn't go to Kalighat, she drove up to drive me to the local temple, and got eat-stuff for me that will last - all this in middle of her eye checkups. If it weren't for her my Pickle Jar in would not have been what it turned out to be.

Now can you imagine what it felt to not crush her with a tightthug on seeing? My hands were tied, as you see.

15/04/2021

Meet the (role) models for social distancing!

Bidisha Bhaduri came to take me out to a Tamil meal in Keyatala, Kolkata on the Bangla New year day that's Poila Baishakh. We met for the first time, having been connected by Jonali Saikia , but imagine her thought & gesture that I should not miss home/food on my own new year's Day...

Bidisha works with close to 700 weavers from all over Bengal for her Kantha stitch and embroidery creations, working hard to ensure their livelihood was in place even during pandemic.
To me being a political/election reporter is not just reporting on politicians & politics. It's about telling stories of people who make the state tick, despite the politics..
Pickle Jar in

portraits

14/04/2021

Amitava Roy, tea planter in whose Bejoynagar baadi (home in Bengali) near Naxalbari, where I was on return from Coochbehar, to understand what goes into our cup of chai, given his 40 years in this sector starting as a trainee. It was a pleasure to listen to his candid views on tea industry and the feudal British-inherited system whose ills he saw and is now seen as among the compassionate people in that region.

I later went on my own by by a shared Magic gaadi to Longview tea plantation to independently speak to tea garden workers and know their conditions. That story will put out soon.



Bangalorean in

13/04/2021

It's our Kannada new year today. and the start of Ramzan. Wishes to you all.

Thanks to those of you who have been so keenly following & cheering my travel these past 15 days, of a Bangalorean in Bengal.

Today I leave north Bengal, start from Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri back to Calcutta.
As a friend asked me, this time Ugadi with Didi?!

Pickle Jar in

08/04/2021

To my right Mohammed Alam, teacher in government school... Who told me with pride 'Jiaganj na Madam, Mini India hai'. Hindu Muslim Boudhh Kristaan san hain iss gaon mein."

He played impromptu translator fior me as I got down (on my way to Raghunathganj to meet women workers of beedi industry) from car to hear people's voices..as the only guy who knew Hindi in an all-Bangla market place where I got down in Jiaganj Murshidabad district where I have come taking Pickle Jar in .
The present MLA is from TMC, but most of the dozen I spoke to were upbeat that BJP is who will win this time. 'No jobs here, our people go to your Bangalore and Mumbai; we have good masons.."

Duty done, Alam invited me for chai in a clay cup.."You won't forget Jiaganj chai madam" and while I was winding up my Mike etc had quietly paid for mine and walked away.

07/04/2021

If only Gurudev Robindronaath Tagore would have been there to see this video on social Facebook:)..

That me south Indian broke into the onnly Bangla song I know, impromptu yesterday in Hingalganj when teacher and creator of Swapnapuron school Satarupa Majumder asked me to speak a few lines to the children and their mothers , of this first English medium CBSE curriculum school she has been setting up on this island in the India-Bangladesh border for first generation learners of children of beedi workers and daily wagers. Will share a few other pics too of the fn.

And we had a riot thereon when the young mothers too joined my amateur dance effort!
To me it was Tagore Power that connects to my Ekla Chalo (walk alone) journey to tell untold stories from this beautiful state of India's East.

To subscribe to my travel updates click on:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/GMBiKD7agAUBFDLHJu6qZ4



Pickle Jar in Bengal

06/04/2021

That's the Icchamati , the tributary of the Ganga, the main river that divides India and Bangladesh.. just a swim away from this part of Sunderbans I am finally reaching, the only English medium school in Hingalganj - Swapnapuran, set up for tribal children by teacher Satarupa Majumder .

For some of us also to understand how porous an 'international' border can sometimes be...



Pickle Jar in Bengal

03/04/2021

The ilekshuns show that wasn't:).
Was fun to be guest on his show and ulta-interrogate the won and wonly Cyrus Broacha.

PS: Recommended as only timepass over bed tea or bad coffee....
Meanwhile like every morning, reminding you. Vote for PJB..
Pickle Jar in Bengal!


https://youtu.be/Wbswb_t8Nkc

31/03/2021

Just now gym-returned.
Dance class done, dusted.
RTPCR by 8 am, home sample collection.
10-11 am, making a debut on Cyrus Broacha audio/ podcast today live show C**k and Bull, on YouTube IVM podcasts page.
Tomorrow onwards to try and do a Facebook InstaLive every morning 8, do keep your eyes out.

In less than 24 hours...I shall be in a land I barely know but feel that I so know it. Baashonti in Bangaal for ilekshons!

Where ek Didi ki momta ca
lls, BJP beckons me to report as a totally self-funded, independent journalist traveling solo to Say what she sees. without bias, without hate.

Peepol of India, Will you be there this next 15 days as I wander through villages and towns of the East? No matter bheech party you support will you or not support PJB 😀...( Pickle Jar in Bengal)?!

28/03/2021

The Zomato episode that gives me an excuse this week my column, to examine the Indian brand of kindness that comes - with strings attached.
Feedback good, bad most welcome.. as long as it is kind:).

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/delivery-boy-or-your-doctor-being-kind-without-conditions-apply-967404.html

Whose side were you on when you saw the video of a woman bleeding from her nose who said she had been hit by a food-delivery guy while she was on the phone asking the company to cancel the order as the delivery was late? Did you switch sides when you later heard the man’s version, who said he had ...

21/03/2021

'I grew up in an environment where the giver didn't feel or act great and the recipient did not feel small accepting..' - philanthropist Sudha Murty tells me the secret of graceful giving at the Zee Arth festival.

Also of how Kannada comes more naturally to her than English, in over 35 books she has written in both languages.

https://youtu.be/1CVvnFtf5Eo

Watch Sudha Murty share her literary journey with Vasanthi Hariprakash. Catch them unfold a beautiful conversation during the panel 'The Joys Of Storytelling...

17/03/2021

A piece I wrote on a remarkable young woman I met 5 years back in Uttar Pradesh, who's just won Indian journalism's top honour.
Neetu Singh, take a bow!

https://www.nwmindia.org/newsmakers/the-maths-graduate-who-scored-journalisms-top-prize/

Under the ‘Swayam Project’ campaign of the Gaon Connection newspaper, Neetu travelled through the state of Jharkhand and stayed for a year and a half, doing text and video stories that most of India never gets to hear.

03/03/2021

Get ready to switch on TV tomorrow 930 am:)...

"Madam avre, namaskara," the lady caller from Ballari district said in Kannada on the Live show I was hosting with a guest on Doordarshan Chandana , "I have a daughter who loves running race. How should she practice..and what should I feed her so that she also runs like you?"

The question was not for me (I ran two races in life - including one lemon-and-spoon as a 6 year old I am told, the rat race of life I kind of ace.. by not running it) but to this engineer-turned-marathon runner Ashwini Ganapathi Bhat, who will represent India in Romania at the Ultra Marathon.
That's a 42-+ km run. Ashwini said on the show she comes from an orthodox family from Sirsi Karnataka. Life took a different turn after she got married & husband Sandeep fuelled her outdoor dreams - hiking, biking and running. Plus travelling solo and a teaching stint she did in a Himachal village.

Like her, I shall be in conversation with women mornings 930 to 1030 live phonein on DD Chandana the Kannada wing.

Tomorrow catch me and Ranjitha Jeurkar speak on the world of the mind. Her rich experience on how to build mental health, compassion and empathy in ourselves.

26/02/2021

Was invited by Asianet Suvarna News and Kannada Prabha to be on the jury for a ❤️ project Kiriya Sampadaka (Junior Editor), that had school children from 16 districts in Karnataka create their own newspapers, their issues, headlines & art work in ads! From CAA laws to Corona to Ragging to Make in India, students from smaller towns were far ahead than the cities in expressing themselves.

Thanks Jogi, Ravi Hegde for this opportunity to know the young of one's state, Ravishankar K Bhat for the pictures.

And co-jury Prakash Belawadi for the great anecdotes as always.

09/02/2021

If you do get 52 seconds for yourself this is the trailer of the podcast I just finished narrating 8 episodes of, 20 crisp minutes each, on the true story of P Rajagopal, founder of the Saravana Bhavan chain of restaurants. Dosa King you can listen to by installing Spotify app, all free. Do listen and tell:).

The music sound and production is by the team of Sikhya Entertainment the famous Bollywood production house founded by Academy Award winner Guneet Monga, known for movies like Lunch Box and Gangs of Wasseypur.

31/01/2021

The all-having Indian is not always the giving Indian, is what I see and say from my Window Seat this week (in the Deccan Herald page 11 if you have a print edition).

When mother, sitting on her cane chair, removes her glasses and looks up from the newspapers, it means there is a serious question coming at me. Sure enough, it was: “Sridevi’s daughter...how many years has she been in the film world?” Me: Ma, sorry, I haven’t done research on this subject o...

28/01/2021

Hey life embrace me, galey lagaa le!
Is the line from a 1983 Hindi film classic that spoke to me I sat down to hum; home after a long day out. Apt message as we step into month 2 of 2021...

It's a 's tribute to the original from Sadma, outstandingly sung, composed and written all by One&Onlies of their fields: Suresh Wadkar, Raja & .

16/01/2021

This co-passenger of mine travelled all the 400+ km from Bangalore to Udupi coast for a wedding and there on, to the 8th century town of Sringeri...all because of the passion of the treeplanter doc in the car. Meenakshi Ramoo Bharath then handed over this lush beauty of a sapljng that she took from her own garden, to the renowned temple of Sharadamba, established by Adi Shankara himself 1200 years back. She has quietly done this at many places many occasions.
Certainly a lesson for me, to turn over a new leaf in greening the world around us.

10/01/2021

Do you have a kid at home?
Is she loving the Online class or wants to run back to school?

My column in the Deccan Herald. WindowSeat from where I write this time for and about India's children and how the most impacted have had the least say in the matter!

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/lesson-learned-children-want-the-real-thing-937247.html

“I don’t want this school…I want the real school.” This scream of a six-year-old broke the morning calm as I was just entering my cousin’s house last week. After seven months of seeing his best friends only on tiny video-boxes, his favourite teacher’s face come up only on his mother’s ...

27/12/2020

Was just parking my gaadi inside when I heard, "Vasanthii, illi bannii" .. 'please come here' in Kannada.

My 3housesaway-neighbour Shobha it turned out to be. "Thought I will show you what I put today."
Just last month I had stopped to watch her deftly draw these designs on kolam and had asked her name as I had moved in new. Today I got a Sunday treat for the eyes.
(She was too shy to be in the frame when I clicked this pic. "You always appreciate my rangoli no? Ashte saaku. That is enough for me.")...


life.

25/12/2020

Episode 3 is out.
Of the I made my debut in, 3 weeks back on Spotify .. Dosa King.
Produced so well by the much-respected Sikhya Entertainment of Mumbai, of Lunchbox, Masaan fame.

So if you wish to hear my voice tell this sensational story of a business tycoon, but never heard a podcast before, or have no clue what the hell is a 'podcast'! Stay with me, let me today guide you step by step:

1. See if you have Spotify app on your phone. Or on laptop/comp.
If not, instal/download from Playstore.

2.Type Dosa King/search for it.

3.It will show the page with all episodes this far.. 3. Or if you already have the app, click straight the post below.

4.Hit the Follow button on left hand top so that next time Vasanthi is on air narrating your phone will tell you, notified. You can cook walk do your thing and hear this. Or just lie back those 20 minutes, Click, play, listen away!

Click here to listen:

The Big Shots- Dosa King
https://open.spotify.com/show/7fmTZ7TNyrA5GMBPjEgssU?si=nXiitO35QBOJPI0Rid1Q8w

An epic drama about the exponential rise of P Rajagopal, the founder of Saravana Bhavan, and the shocking scandal that led to his fall.

17/12/2020

Tomorrow noon 12 on Star Suvarna channel and on Hotstar..
something is brewing my side, little sihi little kahi. (Sweet & bitter, in Kannada).

As guest of the one & only, joshmachine Sihi Kahi Chandru on his superpopular Kannada cookery show of many years Bombaat Bhojana , he asking me in his Bombaat style about my life, work, the Laadli award that came by and my food stories.

So did I have to say good things only about the special sweet he made for me with ... Tomato 🍅:))?..

13/12/2020

Is it safe to travel now? I get asked when I wander into smaller towns, that too choosing public transport over one's own. My answer in this time's column of Window Seat from where I say what I see, without filters.

PS: I am typing this even as I have just arrived at 6 am in Bagalkot, north Karnataka ... On a sleeper bus from Bangalore.


https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/opinion/corona-karma-our-vaccine-926697.html

The shiny white bus was standing in the Bengaluru depot, and I got in with my little strolley bag, avoiding the gleaming steel handles either side as if they had electric current in them. Masked-me glanced at the bus driver in a mask; I walked to my seat and stood, pushing the curtains away was a ta...