All businesses are rife with risk. But more so the entertainment business, subject to shifting audience whims, competitive pressures and the commercial imperative to deliver returns on huge production costs. It’s hardly a sector for the faint-hearted.
… Continue reading “Sustaining Creativity Inside Organizations: Lessons From Pixar”
Forging Communities Inside Salons
Sandhya Sharma, 45, set up her own small parlor because she was married off too early – at 11 – to a man twice her age. Not only did she have to grapple with motherhood too soon,
A Cosmopolitan Childhood
Arundhati grew up with a sense of needing to excel in everything. Whether it was academics, dance, drawing or swimming, she always set up reach goals. Maybe this was partly inspired by her “helicopter” Mom.
Beauty Diplomacy: The Story Of The Book
Oluwakemi M. Balogun, Associate Professor at the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon, was fascinated by how beauty pageants were not just reshaping contestants in Nigeria but also changing notions of the country.
… Continue reading “When Beauty Contestants Become Diplomats”
I have never attended the Jaipur Litfest (JLF). But I have been intrigued, like many other writers, by the manner in which the JLF has reshaped the Indian literary scene. Sparked off in 2006, as a smallish event with about 100 attendees,
… Continue reading “A Witty and Piercing Take on the Jaipur Litfest”
Gandhi in Durban: Sticking To His Turban
When Gandhi reached Durban in 1893, he was just a recently graduated newbie lawyer. In his own words: “I was just a boy returned from England wanting to make some money.” But he already bore a remarkable degree of self-confidence in himself and his culture.
… Continue reading “Reading Gandhi: Channelizing Anger To Change History”
A recent article in The Hindu featured three artists who have painted murals at Indiranagar in Bangalore. Figures depicted on their colorful wallscapes include the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, the religious teacher and educational philosopher J.
… Continue reading “Reading Gandhi: Understanding The Nation’s Founder”
The Author’s Backdrop
The Telugu author, Varalakshmamma, was born in 1896 in Andhra Pradesh. She was a zealous member of the freedom movement, who was galvanized by Mahatma Gandhi. More impressively, she was a feminist who urged other women to assert their rights and to join Gandhi’s movement,
… Continue reading “Reading Telugu Stories: A Deputy Collector Regrets His Working Life”
Of late, there has been a slew of books that critique higher education in the U.S. Many of these written by American scholars and pedagogical practitioners who are intensely invested in the system delivering better learning outcomes.
… Continue reading “When Educational Ideals Are Overtaken By Commerce”
Krishna Gowda of Bookworm, one of our city’s prominent literary advocates, alerted us to a lovely set of books. Published by Aleph, these books carry English translations of the greatest Indian language “stories ever told” – for instance,
… Continue reading “Reading Telugu Stories: Chalam explores forbidden desires”
When I met Sowjanya Shetty at the Green Theory café/restaurant, in the kind of setting that the erstwhile city prided itself in – colonial bungalow, chiming bird song, leafy garden, white gazebos – I couldn’t help but dwell on how apt our meeting place was.
… Continue reading “When A Corporate Leader Gets an Inventive Makeover”
When I conduct writing workshops, I break my process into a simple and even dishearteningly imitable series of steps:
Step 1: Toss your phone into a pond
Step 2: Read
Step 3: Write
Step 4: Rewrite
Why is this disheartening?
… Continue reading “Why Writers Should Be Deliberate Readers”
All our lives are imbued with uncertainty. While the pandemic has only exacerbated our consciousness of fragility, our material realities have always been stitched with tenuousness. In a world or even universe, where nothing is certain,
I was raised in a family where the parental thrust was almost entirely on academics. At school, we had the athletes and the sports “B-Division”. Those of us who were clumped into the B-Division, according to the school’s classification,
A recent issue of The Economist (June 25, 2022) recounted the story behind one of my all-time favorite songs: It’s a Sin by Pet Shop Boys. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the British band or its haunting lyrics,
… Continue reading “It’s a Sin: Why The Pet Shop Boys Still Command Such Interest”
When An Investor Infuses His Soul in The Game
In a world where people are often expected to inhabit polarities – pro-capital or pro-labor, liberal or conservative – Vitaly Katsenelson dwells in a rare liminal or middle space.
… Continue reading “When An Investor Infuses His Soul in The Game”
Let me start with a favorite song. I’m not sure if many millennials or GenZs are familiar with the 1983 movie, Flashdance. The plot revolves around a working class woman, a welder called Alex,
… Continue reading “When Authority Figures Unwittingly Foster Failure”
In a world saturated with noise – podcasts, audiobooks, videos, talk shows, webinars – what the world doesn’t lack is content. Yet, there are scores of new podcasters, new writers, new TV shows, new films,
Jigyasa Labroo, who is ushering a critical change into Indian public schools and into the lives of low-income children, won a well-deserved spot in the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. As the co-founder of Slam Out Loud,
… Continue reading “Jigyasa Labroo Champions Kids’ Voices From The Margins”
Neena Gupta, at the age of 62, after winning two National awards and essaying several memorable television and film roles – including the iconic Ketaki in Khandaan – had put this message out on Instagram,
Brinda S. Narayan
