India Blog

The army way

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:53:07 +0000

By Taapsi Ramchandani

“Doesn’t indiscipline bother you?”

“Of course it does! Like, I can’t stand people spitting on the road. It simply isn’t done. So I tell them their intestines would dry up if they didn’t swallow their spit. It works on some of them,” says Mrs Shahane, her eyes crinkling with mirth.

Betting for keeps with the Mumbai elite

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:20:23 +0000

By Taapsi Ramchandani

Now while we emphatically deny to our foreign friends that cows, buffalo, camels and elephants amble along our Indian streets, the truth of the matter is that you are often more likely to make acquaintance with at least one of the above animals before you make a new friend in the city. I decided to add one more animal to the list just in case my homo sapiens circle of friends threatens to vanish altogether – the beast of burden complete with rippling muscles, the horse.

Hot, cold and coaled in Kashmir

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Taapsi Ramchandani

I spent the best part of last month working as an assistant director on a documentary on the history and culture of the pashmina. This catapulted me into the balls-shrivellingly cold climate of Kashmir (no, I’m not secretly a man, but I know) amid weavers, embroiders and traders of the cloth. While the story of the pashmina will be told in the documentary, here’s a little window into a world ensconced in a valley.

While I was sleeping...

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:05:43 +0000

By Taapsi Ramchandani

I went to my hometown a few weeks back for a surprise visit to my mother. Three days later, while President Pratibha Patil was probably doing an extra kilometer on the treadmill preparing for her historic flight in the Sukhoi, I was slowly losing my health to my first ever major illness - dengue. Not that I was complaining. It was after all the gravest thing happening to me since common cold four years back.

Message to extremists: don't pee on me and say it's raining

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

by Taapsi Ramchandani

‘You know why it rains?’ Little Akash is picking his nose. 6 year old Siddharth is keenly watching his friend’s struggle. ‘Because God is crying.’

Siddharth’s eyes open wide. ‘Really?!’

The King Khan Age of Bollywood

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:42:32 +0000

by Taapsi Ramchandani

Shah Rukh Khan, one of the greatest actors ever in Bollywood, turned 44 on the 2nd of November. What fun! The man’s lopsided grin, his famous stutter ‘K-k-k-k-kiran’, even his suspiciously built abs have the power of attracting attention equivalent to that of Princess Diana in her heyday. And no, I’m not exaggerating.

Riding the Qawwali Express

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:48:54 +0000

by Taapsi Ramchandani

I pulled the shawl tightly around myself and with chattering teeth to keep me company, made my way to the railway station. It was twenty past ten. I had half an hour to spare. The biting cold was a bad host- the streets were almost deserted. Winter is only fun when you know you have a warm bed waiting somewhere. I was headed for an 8-hour train ride from Lucknow to Delhi.

We fools who love the idiot box

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:34:15 +0000

by Taapsi Ramchandani

It is 8pm. Rakesh is back from work. The kids are back from playing. Sunita has just finished preparing dinner. But it’s too early to eat. The Sawant family will not eat for another half hour. That’s because Balika Vadhu (Child Bride) airs on TV between 8 and 8:30pm. And no one wants to miss that.

School runs and sectarianism in Mumbai: a cautionary tale

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:13:50 +0000

by Taapsi Ramchandani

‘Bhaa-ee-ya.’

Mrs. Sharma seems to yawn and smile at the same time as her red lips form each syllable over gleaming white teeth.

Gujarat's festival of freedom

pete@unitedwebdevelopment.co.uk (admin) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:26:46 +0000

by Vidhi Bhargava

In the world India perhaps has the most festivals. We Indian just need a reason to celebrate -- the onset of monsoon, harvest, planting of new crops or the birthday of any among the 330 million Hindu Gods and Goddesses.