Known Turf

A few days ago, I was at Gwalior station, waiting for a train that just wouldn't arrive. Since I travel very light these days, I just sw...

A few weeks ago, holed up in a small-town hotel one evening, staring dully at the television, my finger stopped jabbing remote when I caught...

This is almost a ritual for bloggers now: to keep an eye - a widened, part-horrified, part-amused eye - out for the weird searches that di...

It is the season for regrets, it seems. Dashrath , the man who single-handedly cut a road through a hill, breathed his last recently. From ...

So Qurrat-ul-Ain Haider too is gone . Slipped away , in a hospital at the edges of this city. I've been trying to say something about he...

While I was away and unconnected, several items awaited me in my work inbox. A small sample. 1. Govt.Girls Middle School, Jaffrabad Extensio...

I met Lal Singh 'Dil' about two years ago. Interviewed him for this story , mentioned him in passing, in that blog post . And I did ...

Seen at Srinagar airport, on my way back from covering this story : Large groups of tourists, possibly religious tourists, working themselve...

"Chairing the meeting, the PCCF-cum-Secretary, Environment & Forests, Shri S S Choudhury urged upon the PRI members to decimate th...

To get a feel of just how influential the Dera is, around Sirsa, just drive through it. You will see Sachi Daadhi, Sach Nursery, Sach Petro...

In Punjab, there is a village called Ajitwal. In Ajitwal, there is a family of farmers. They probably have roots in UP, but have been here f...

Came across this poem by Kunwar Narayan. Am not going to attempt a translation because this poem works primarily (for me) phonetically. It h...

I sometimes wonder whether some of us (film reviewers especially) are losing the ability to be entertained. Or whether we like to set oursel...

Young man. Striped shirt. Big-ish car... cannot tell which make; never cared enough about models and names. Young man leans out to ask for d...

If only, brokers didn't have to be paid. If only, people built houses meant to be lived in. Rooms with large windows, and doors right ac...

Sunday morning and a knock on the door. A stranger. Who hands me a picture of guru nanak, benevolently gazing at nothing at a forty-five ...

In Delhi's buses, about one-fourth of the seats are reserved for women. The first seat on the left is for the conductor(s). The second i...

One of the worst things about my job is the tears. Grown men and women breaking down. You can handle kids' crying. They scream their lun...

Was stuck to her cell phone outside a small 'mart' while it poured in sheets more solid than water can be. Was cursing her decision ...

Can't remember where I've heard it, but I always carry it around - this idea that the body is the soul. The body is all you have. It...