What I Watched – March 2025
The Brutalist: I wonder if this was the longest movie that I’ve ever watched in a cinema. The movie was good but not great. After a month, thinking about it, only Felicity Jones’ character comes to my...
View ArticleThe Merchant of Venice
Was Shakespeare an antisemite? Many argue that his portrayal of Shylock in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is proof that he was one. Shylock the Jew is a money lender who demands a pound of flesh from...
View ArticleThe Political Origins of the United Nations
When the Charter of the United Nations was signed on 26th June 1945, the Second World War was still raging in the Pacific. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were yet to happen. And colonialism was very much alive...
View ArticleThe World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle
If you were an East German during the Cold War, the Stasi (East German Secret Police) scrutinized every aspect of your life. Letters would be read, houses and offices would be bugged, suspects could be...
View ArticleSome Kodagu Facts
Though Coorg (Kodagu) is close to Kozhikode, I’ve never visited the place. My only ‘connection’ must be the fact that Sruthi’s cousin is married to a native of Coorg. Last week, on a visit to Patna, I...
View ArticleTwelfth Night
Soon after finishing ‘Twelfth Night’, I watched the 1996 movie adaptation by Trevor Nunn and was better able to appreciate the play. Four hundred years before gender, queerness and homoerotic love...
View Articlele Carré’s ‘The Karla Trilogy’
I’ve been reading up on the Cold War and the Iron Curtain and naturally ended up shortlisting John le Carre’s Karla Trilogy – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honorable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People –...
View ArticleWhat I Watched – April 2025
Sector 36: Watched it with my cousins during my trip to Palakkad. Massey, with his baby face, was a wrong choice to play this real-life monster. Alaipayuthe: When I returned, Sruthi was midway through...
View ArticleAgartala Notes
I returned from Agartala yesterday. The one-day trip for work was my maiden visit to the state. The sheer distance and the fact that one has to cross the Bangladeshi airspace made the journey quite...
View Article“Written kisses don’t reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the...
I love texting. Texts are a constant companion for me – quick check-ins, official work, deep chats late in the night, banter in the family groups are all various forms of texting that I (and probably...
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