Deccan Herald - Comfortably Numb

Book review: A Secret History of Compassion by Paul Zacharia

Sending up everything and everyone A scathing look at life. The reader`s first reaction on reading A Secret History of Compassion is to muse over the probability that Paul Zacharia wrote up the story, then dipped it into a vat of caustic soda. Everything is grist for his mill, or rather pen, here: writers,…

Travel: Thotlakonda, Andhra Pradesh

History on a hill Thotlakonda in Andhra Pradesh is today a hazy hark-back to its glorious Buddhist traditions It’s a hot day, a very hot day in fact. The sun glares down mercilessly and I`m glad of the foresight to have carried a hat. There is a strong breeze blowing, though, carrying…

Feature: Tribute to Delilah

My, my, my Delilah… It was an Ambassador car, a stodgy vehicle, caramel in colour. It was of 1963 make and quite the pride and delight of my armyman father. I can`t quite remember when and why the Amby went in for a makeover. But makeover it was, because when she returned from…

Feature: The new face of humour

As the times rapidly change, the rich seam of humour we tap into is also rapidly changing. It`s black humour, but of course. The other good-natured, gentle ribbing really would not stand up to what we are seeing and experiencing in life these days. It`s black humour and it is everywhere; it has…

Book review: My Grandmother Sends Her Regards & Apologises by Fredrik Backman

A funny-wise tale ‘Every seven-year-old deserves a superhero.’ If that line isn’t enough to reel you in, ‘My Grandmother Sends Her Regards & Apologises’ has plenty of quirky characters and whimsical fairy tales which work just as well, in this book by Fredrik Backman. The story is of Elsa, a ‘different’ seven-year-old, a Gryffindor…

Feature: Charlie Chaplin, A Tribute

Make like the Tramp! One could do worse than adopt a Chaplinesque outlook to life. Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, better known as Charlie Chaplin, entertainer exemplaire, would be 127 years on April 16, 2016, if he still lived. But the character Chaplin created and the world took to its heart, the Tramp, continues to entertain,…

Feature: In The New Year….

Make it a happy 2016 ! If the passing of time is inexorable, it is also slightly ridiculous. Ridiculous because before we know it, the year has shut shop, another year is about to dawn on us, and there we are, pretty much where we were last December. As the saying goes, plus ça change,…

Feature: How Relevant Are You?

How relevant are you? We don’t analyse it much, but it’s astonishing what we do to stay relevant. Relevant to who? Why, to our kith and kin, our friends and neighbours, the people we work for, the people we work with, the people who work for us, indeed, to the section of the whole wide…

Feature: So, What`s the Goss?

Don`t tell anyone, okay? Like it or not, gossip makes the world go round. The savvy thing here would be to stay on top of the rumour mills. A few lessons on managing the eternally thrumming grapevine. Ask me all about gossip. I know. I was living and working in the capital…

Humour: Coffee talk

Coffee Talk Over the years, I have come to meet some interesting people in Bangalore`s coffee houses. some of these people are celebs, others quasi-celebs and still others, confirmed eccentrics. I have come away feeling quite enriched…