A tall tale….

There are some unbelievable stories, this might one day be consigned to one of those collections. But then again, I have to tell it, for it is, if not remarkable, an interesting tale. I take you again, my friends, to the little village I hail from, nestling near the Western Ghats, where we still h…

The Cynical Malayali

Most people would agree on this, that an average Malayali is somewhat cynical. Sometimes his pithy and sarcastic answers comes across a bit negatively and pessimistic, for example if it was raining, he would opine that the sun is unlikely to come out for a number of days as though you were in for …

Nair, Thackeray and the Free Press Journal

And of course the fearless doyen of Journalism - S Sadanand Recently I came across an address which mentioned an A B Nair Road in Juhu, and I was a bit mystified. I did know about the Nair hospital in Bombay, but that was related to one A L Nair. Then I discovered that there was a place in the same…

Hicky, Maria and Warren

The travails of Hicky - the ‘Papa of the Indian press’ So many events converged to destroy the life of this hapless character, a bloke named James Augustus Hicky of Calcutta. The Nuncomar case, the ill-gotten gains of Maria - the lovely wife of Warren Hastings, the machinations of Phillip Francis a…