PlainGeets

  • The Birth of a Book: The Honey Hunter

    A serendipitous collaboration is how Anita Roy of Zubaan Publications described “The Honey Hunters,” written by Karthika Nair and illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet. Developed initially for DESH, a dance show, The Honey Hunters was born out of a discussion about the age-old diasporic problem of the loss of a language.…

  • It’s A Good Time To Be A Teacher

    Growing up, I observed teachers all around me and couldn’t help but notice that all their creativity and innovation eventually led back to the textbook. As students, everything boiled down to the notebook and how we reproduced their content in our exams. Creativity and innovation were regarded with suspicion and…

  • Gourmand Geets : La Belle Vie

    Located in Upper Coonoor, La Belle Vie housed in the 115 year old colonial hotel, 180° McIver, is a multi-cuisine restaurant that specializes in French cuisine. It was the board announcing its status as a “French Restaurant” that called my attention as our car made its way up towards Kotagiri…

  • Nesting in Bangalore – Part II

    Not quite the nomad yet, though I feel like one after having moved from Bombay to Pune to Bangalore in the last ten years and lived in 4 different homes. Having stayed in one house for the first 24 years of my life, house hunting is quite an adventure for…

  • Fingersmith [BBC Adaptation] : a review

    Fingersmith : A talented thief. Originally fingersmith meant anyone talented at using his/her fingers in any matter whatsoever. It evolved to mean someone talented at stealing. – Urban Dictionary One of the two protagonists of this 2005 two-part BBC mini-series, based on Sarah Waters’ Man Booker Prize nominated novel of the…

  • Would You Like Some Muffins With Your Tea?

    I’ve been fascinated with muffins and cupcakes for as far back as I can remember. Summer vacations, weekends and every free moment I had as a child were filled with Enid Blyton’s books so it’s a small surprise that my head was full of images of cold chicken salad, tomato…

  • Book Review : Diary of an Ordinary Woman

    Flitting desultorily looking for an interesting book to pick up at the second edition of “buy books by the kilo” sale, I chanced upon Margaret Forster’s “Diary of an Ordinary Woman” just as I was about to give up hope of getting anything worthwhile. A good six months later, forced to…

  • An Afternoon at Nrityagram

    It had been on my list since I moved to Bangalore, when en route, my best friend commandeered me to go there on the very first weekend I was free. I was free on the first weekend in Bangalore and on several weekends since then, but it took me over…

  • Gourmand Geets : Enté Keralam

    Satiated with pastas, kebabs and all the usual suspects of restaurant cuisine, we were craving a change in cuisine this week when we remembered Enté Keralam. Despite our best intentions, we hadn’t been back since last year’s sumptuous Onam Sadhya. The incessant blaring of religious (and other) songs from loudspeakers in…

  • Book Review : Monet’s Cookery Notebooks

    Like most people, I love the Impressionists and I started my lessons in Art with Claude Monet’s beautiful works. Sue Roe’s “The Private Lives of the Impressionists” waits patiently on my bedside table to be finished, giving way to a more recent purchase, “Monet’s Cookery Notebooks.” Acquired at the first…

  • Gourmand Geets : Koshy’s

    To live in Bangalore and not know Koshy’s is a sacrilege.  And when I say “know” I don’t just mean know the address and use it as a landmark, but actually go there, at least once. I’ve been to Koshy’s of course – not once, but several times. In my first year in Bangalore,…

  • Ciné-concert: “The General” by Buster Keaton with live music by Radiomentale

    My saga with rich cultural experiences continues, with the latest being the Ciné-concert organized by the Alliances françaises in India for the 2013 edition of Fête de la musique. What is a ciné-concert ? The concept harks back to the era of silent films when the screenings were accompanied by…