VP Menon – The Architect of Modern India

Bringing order from the nightmare of Chaos Introducing - Rao Bahadur Vapal Pangunni Menon. While perusing the stories of Nehru, Krishna Menon and many others I had covered in these blogs, I came across VP’s name now and then. And like the man he was, he and his character were such that they remained…

The Story of Babul Mora

The other day we all listened to a sonorous recital of the famed ‘Babul Mora’ in the Saigal style by our good friend Subash, during our music Samaroh session. As I had the responsibility to introduce the song, I did a little digging and come up with the brief background. The song took us back many…

A Story from Appenzel

The story of Heiden’s Room 12… You’d have also felt sometimes that some people believe that they are always very correct and well, I’ve come across some Germans who belong to that category. Like the other day (well actually it was many years ago) I was flying Lufthansa from Zurich. I had settled do…

As the Seasons Change

It has been a year now in Raleigh, and we have gone past the four seasons that slipped by gloriously. Last years winter was harsh, though not as bad as the ones at other places we had lived in. The spring was short while the summer was hot and sunny and now it is the period for a fascinating autum…

Parry in Madras - Chennai days – Part 3

Some days ago I wrote about Triplicane, Hamilton Bridge and Amir Mahal. I uncovered in other articles stories around the Icehouse and Burma bazaar as well, and talked at length about Muthuswamy Dikshitar and how Western music influenced him to create Nottuswaras, but Chennai would not be complete …

Of calculi and the such

Have you ever had a calculus? If the answer is ‘yes’, my sympathies. If not, let me hope and pray that you never get one. If you did get one, let me pray that you never get another one. As for me, I had them twice, and while it was a torrid period, it did offer its lighter moments to me. Arun my s…