They meander all across New England, marking forgotten boundaries of farmlands. Sturdy and seemingly impervious to the elements, yet at places, they are overgrown by vegetation and hidden to the eye. I’m referring to stonewalls and I’m fascinated by them. I noticed them during my first week in New England. I was driving along a winding road, dwarfed by tall…
I remember my first visit to the gym at my university at Clemson. I was awestruck by the facilities and the equipment. Times have changed but in the early nineties, I don’t think national level athletes in India had access to such facilities. The contrast was stark to the gym at my undergraduate college in India. The gym,…
An enduring memory of my childhood is that of lying in bed on a cold December night in Bangalore, sometime around 1973 with the lights switched off and my brother telling me stories of Brer Rabbit. These were written by Enid Blyton and involved the escapades of a rabbit who was constantly outwitting the trio of Brer Fox, Brer…
While rummaging through our pantry the other day, I came across a bag of Pistachios. It was a 3 lb bag from Costco and we had consumed about half its contents. The presence of the bag had obviously been forgotten and it was lying hidden behind some boxes. The contents had turned rancid and I threw the bag in the…
They made their appearance in India in the mid-to-late seventies. The next step in the evolution of music players – the cassette decks. They ranged from the compact mono players and “two-in-ones” to the larger cassette decks that came with graphic equalizers and powerful speakers. They were middle and upper-class status symbols, usually occupying a prominent place in the house.…
The phrase “Street Singer” evokes nostalgia for lovers of old Hindi music. And by old, I mean really old, for this is the name of the 1938 movie starring the singer-actor K.L. Saigal. It contains gems such as “Babul Mora”, “Jeevan Been Madhur Na Baje” and “Lachhami Murat Daras Dikhaye”. Yes, I admit, I listen to Hindi songs from the…
Each year, as my school’s annual sports day rolled around, I would get excited. I really had no reason to. While I played cricket and soccer in my neighborhood, I would never qualify for any of the athletic events. I loved sports though. I followed the Olympics (past and present) and Asian games closely. Jesse Owens, Al Oerter, Jim Thorpe,…
Our house abuts acres of conservation land. Even though we’ve lived here for a few years, I had not ventured into the woods behind our house until earlier this year when I made my first foray into the woods after a snowstorm. It was a magical experience and it merits a separate post. I ventured forth again last Sunday, after…
Another season of the Miracle League came to an end today. Considering it is almost the end of October, it was an unusually warm New England day and the game was played under clear blue skies. Nikhil has added another trophy to his burgeoning collection and will rest on his laurels till the next session that starts in Spring. This…
My brother crept up to the Vishnu bomb, paused for a moment, lit the fuse with an incense stick and ran back to where I was standing. There was a chill in the air. The sun was yet to rise and the street lamp cast our shadows on the street. The bomb exploded with a flash and as the sound…