2023 is here

2022 is behind us and the new year is here. 2022 was a fairly unusual year for me in recent times, in that I spent most of the time studying for something or the other. I gave up my job, moved countries, started working out more seriously. I didn’t read more books than I usually…

Tropical Island Green – A photo essay

There should be a colour called ‘Tropical Island Green’. It is not the green of the palm tree fronds lining the fashionable walkways of a desert metropolis nor is it the colour of the monsoon washed leaves of the tree clumps leading a precarious existence on the borders of the pulsing thoroughfares in a growing…

Infinities

Since yesterday, the first images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope have been featured prominently in the news cycle. And for good reason. As mentioned in the official press release by NASA, these images “will help to uncover the answers to questions we don’t even yet know to ask; questions that will help us…

Any last words?

“Any last words?” This was the first thing that popped up in my mind as I stared up at the massive bull which would have once topped a 20 metre column in the palace of Darius I, the Persian emperor at around 500 BCE. You can almost imagine the massive bull about to trample you…

Sunday Squirrel Nap Appreciation Post

You have to give it to the squirrels. They seem to have hit the right work-life balance. At my sister’s place, I would see squirrels scurrying about for food in the morning and then take quick naps on a tree trunk basking in the sun. Every day I caught at least one squirrel taking a…

Veganuary…

Sometime in mid-December 2021, I thought of doing a set of posts on my blog for Veganuary 2022. I planned about doing a series of blog posts about the vegan food I was consuming, about how I have veganised a few vegetarian recipes, some memories I have associated with food and so on. January 2022…

Evoke

The dictionary defines the verb evoke as “to call forth or up” I like the word “evoke”. Something about that word by itself is very evocative of bringing back something good. A picture evokes a pleasant holiday by the beach. A smell brings forth a long lost memory. A fragment of music calls up our…

A few tips from a language magpie on acquiring new tongues..

First of all, my apologies to magpies. Recent research has shown that contrary to popular belief, magpies do not steal or accumulate shiny objects and that in fact, they may be positively apprehensive of new objects. In fact, if there is one species that is consistently attracted to hoarding shiny baubles, it is Homo Sapiens….

Can you guess the place?

How is everyone doing? I hope you are all taking adequate precautions to staying safe (if you are able to). Life has certainly made things different. Who would have thought a few months ago that we would all have to work from home, cloistered in our houses, unable to drive, take a train or a…

Reckoning Time

One of the biggest news stories that broke today was the announcement of the name of the new Japanese Imperial era (Reiwa). With the abdication of the current Emperor Akihito and the reign of the new Emperor Naruhito beginning, the way in which the Japanese reckon time also had to change. Of course, the people…