2021-01-08 16:45
Today I formally complete a year in the active service of cats — a year that feels like a lifetime because, thanks to COVID-19, a better part of it was spent at home in their company… Read More
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2020-10-17 15:51
There was a time when this blog was all that I had. Facebook was still hiding in the future, my books were still in the womb of my ambition. I did have a column in the newspaper I worked for… Read More
2019-12-30 17:15
In my memory — I just turned 49 — no year was as eagerly awaited as 2019. Elections come every five years and those five years usually pass in a blink, but the 2019 elections wer… Read More
2019-08-07 20:15
My mother is now a memory. But memories of the August afternoon I cremated her in Banaras remain fresh. There are pictorial reminders, too, of that afternoon, hidden in some forgotten folde… Read More
2019-08-06 06:59
On the night of 13 January 2001, I boarded the Tamil Nadu Express at New Delhi station, carrying a large suitcase and a bag. The suitcase had all my clothes and documents, while the bag excl… Read More
2018-10-19 19:10
Today is Vijaya Dashami. Usually on this day, for the past few years, I’ve been taking the flight back to Chennai after spending Durga Puja in Calcutta. This year, however, I did not t… Read More
2017-08-13 17:30
It's drizzling this morning as I lie down by the window of my Chennai home to write this post.Some will call it a pleasant day; many others find such weather to be gloomy — it all depe… Read More
2016-10-17 21:25
I am mildly emotional about October 17 — I never seem to forget the date — because it was on this day in 2005 that I started this blog. That makes Ganga Mail 11 years old.&n&hell…Read More
2016-10-07 20:10
Feeling a little emotional about Calcutta tonight, I sat down to put down my thoughts in writing but I am unable to because the radio is on — 106.2 FM, which describes itself as &lsqu&helli…Read More
2016-07-09 22:38
Yesterday morning my publishers mailed me reviews of the Hindi translation of Chai, Chai appearing in three leading Hindi dailies — Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar and Jansatta &mda&hell…Read More
2016-07-03 07:03
I often come across this quote, that life is like a book and those who do not travel read only one page.When you read those words aloud you also, without realising it, make fun of people who… Read More
2016-07-02 18:04
Today I did some of the things I had been wanting to do in Benares. I had two freshly-made, hot rasagullas (only Rs 10 each); I had not one but three Banarasi paans (the idea was to have onl… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
Sometime in 1990, the magazine of the now-defunct Sunday Mail carried a cover story on the writer Khushwant Singh. The cover picture showed the writer seated comfortably on a sofa, his … Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
The first selfie I ever clicked is the profile picture you see on this blog. It was taken sometime in October 2005, for the purpose of starting this blog. Wonder why the selfie should be in… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
I was 34 when I started writing this blog. Tonight, at the stroke of midnight, the digits will interchange. A journey of nine years recorded on Ganga Mail. Even though I have had very l… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
By the time Sachin Tendulkar started playing for the Indian team, in 1989, my cricket-watching years were almost coming to an end. Even though I was only 19 then, I had somehow lost interest… Read More
2016-01-17 17:07
Every January I fall in love with Chennai all over again. That’s when the sky is blue and the clouds are white, when the weather is at its pleasant best, when there is happiness in the… Read More
2015-12-26 17:57
About a couple of months ago I spent some time in Benares, where one day, while walking to the Manikarnika Ghat, I chanced upon the Pashupatinath Temple, built there about two centuries ago… Read More
2015-12-03 16:37
Lives lost, homes leftpets lost, strays deadplans postponeddreams abandonedopportunities washed away.So we start — againsome from scratchsome after a pausepraying for everythingbut an… Read More
2015-10-20 05:38
Someday, my feet could model for Alberto Torresi slippers. That is, if someday my face becomes famous enough to sell products.About five months ago, I bought a pair for Rs 1,700 from Express… Read More
2015-10-19 16:15
Today I did some of the things I had been wanting to do in Benares. I had two freshly-made, hot rasagullas (only Rs 10 each); I had not one but three Banarasi paans (the idea was to have onl… Read More
2015-10-19 16:13
Dear Ma: I am writing this letter to you sitting on the banks of the Ganga in Benares. I have just finished performing your last rites, and I am now sitting on a slab of stone at the Manikar… Read More
2015-06-07 16:24
Shortly before I decided to move to Chennai — the decision was taken in the year 2000 — I read a report in Outlook about how the conservative city was changing and becoming more… Read More
2015-06-05 04:07
One afternoon, when I was in the eighth or ninth standard, two men (one of them bearded) walked into our classroom, carrying cartons. To each student they handed two yellow packets — o… Read More
2015-05-27 20:45
I wish I had the habit of keeping a diary or journal, looking back at each day before going to bed or recording thoughts and impressions as and when they came — of course, leaving out… Read More
2015-05-24 19:25
A Beautiful Mind, the movie, ended beautifully — you left the theatre with a tear or two.But in real life, that beautiful mind has met with such a tragic end that you read and reread t… Read More
2015-05-24 05:56
She walked out of the restroom gingerly, as if not to distract fellow diners with her footsteps, and took her seat noiselessly — as if she wanted her existence to be a whisper. "Please… Read More
2015-05-22 18:25
The movements of Jayalalithaa, and the arrangements for her swearing-in tomorrow as the chief minister, brought traffic in Chennai to a grinding halt today. Fortunately I did not have a fli… Read More
2015-05-22 11:07
This evening, coming back from work, I found myself locked out of the house. I had forgotten to carry the keys and the wife had gone out and was expected to be back in an hour. To kill time… Read More
2015-05-15 20:25
And then Piku rekindled the longing, just when I had settled to the rhythm of my life in Chennai.This evening, as I sat in the theatre to watch the film that almost everybody is praising, me… Read More
2015-05-09 16:09
Uniformed vendors constantly walked up and down the aisle, selling snacks, as the double-decker train hurtled in the direction of Chennai from Bangalore. One man sold vadas, another sol… Read More
2015-04-05 22:51
I last visited Calcutta two months ago. Somehow — and quite suddenly — Calcutta didn’t feel Calcuttaenough.Was it because I was done with my book and was now looking at the… Read More
2015-02-02 18:10
It was the March of 2011when spring was middle-agedbut I was a boy, stepping into Calcuttafor the first time with a notebook.One year passed, then anotherand then another:from Spring it was… Read More
2014-12-26 17:49
Today I am 44 years old. I never thought I would reach this age so soon. I always believed that time would be partial towards me and move at a leisurely pace in my case, but that was not to… Read More
2014-12-15 19:30
How quickly one gets used to change. After shifting home nearly a month ago, not once did I mistakenly end up in my old address, Murugesan Street, where I lived for 14 years; nor did my hear… Read More
2014-10-25 18:33
The sky can be the blandest thing on this planet; it can also be the most beautiful. It all depends on how lucky you are -- and whether you have the time to gaze at it.Sometimes it is a blan… Read More
2014-10-13 19:27
I have written a lot about my admiration for Kishore Kumar -- on this blog as well as in the paper(s) I have worked or work for -- so I don't what new to write on the occasion of his de… Read More
2014-10-08 05:06
The evening of October 3. Some said it was Navami evening, some others said it was already Dashami evening. For me, it was the evening of my departure from Calcutta, after having spent two s… Read More
2014-09-01 20:23
It is ten minutes past midnight and I am still not hungry. Old habits die hard: for many years now I’ve been having my dinner at two or three in the morning, the reason being I cannot… Read More
2014-08-28 10:19
Exactly five years ago, on this day, I set out on the most dreadful journey of my life. I took the evening Indigo flight to Delhi, where my wife and I spent the night at her sister’s… Read More
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