Known Turf

I have a great love for Ila Arun, specifically the pop numbers she did in the 1990s. One of my earliest memories of serious desi pop is ...

It was past one in the night. I stood outside the old building with a couple of other women. The night shift security guards stood nearby. O...

Not about cha, which too may happen some day. But for now, 'Diaphragm' is in Cha magazine. Link to the:   poem . And a piece wher...

1. How to respond to people asking me to 'be careful' in the light of the Ayodhya verdict. How is one to be careful, in this cont...

You may have heard about the Madness Mandali . I heard (about their poetry-art project), I wanted in, it seems I am in. Mixing poetry with a...

People are talking about giving this week . I've got a couple of calls from people wanting to give, wanting advice about who to donate ...

'Pepsu?' I frowned at the word. PEPSU? Where? How? Why didn't I know? Oddly enough, India did have a state by that name though o...

Wouldn't it be awesome if one could avoid trouble by declaring that the conditions in one's life are no longer conducive to the crea...

I have two poems in this new anthology of love poems from contemporary Indian poets. Makes for lovely gifts for loved ones. Makes for poetry...

And on a different, shorter route, I counted 59 pot-holes. Pot-hole counting is fast becoming my commute time-pass.

It is Independence day. I wish freedom and peace upon everyone. It also happens to be the month of Ramzan, which is a month of self-restrai...

Dear Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation You must be reading a lot about malaria, pot-holes in Mumbai these days. We (you and I) are not ...

All of which is pleasing: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100709/jsp/opinion/story_12659958.jsp http://www.deccanherald.com/content/81799/sea...

It was just something I felt instinctively to be true. Our khap honour is sullied most easily when caste is murking up the gotra waters. Now...

There are times, I believe, when there can be no reconciliation . None that I can imagine. People use that word so easily: reconciliation. R...

What, or rather, where do you think the writer is talking about? Subsidies on transport etc? "You will see the shiny metros with their ...

Rs 17 crore a day . A day! And that's just the monies on record. No wonder the stakes are so high. Maybe someone can nudge Bollywood in ...

I hope Bombay get some urinals too. I have mixed feelings about stepping out of home on a rare, clear afternoon in this gorgeous monsoon wea...

One has to love this country. If, in the midst of a minor parliamentary crisis in one of our most populous states, you can have images like...

Saw this piece, thanks to Nilanjana . American women reporters were barred from press briefings, banned from going nearer to the front ...