Someday, today will be nostalgia

You know the funniest thing about a sex survey apart from what it reveals? Everyone wants to read them but no one wants to take them. They plant in your mind seeds of doubt and cause you to double guess - that innocent looking girl, could she really have a naughty side? Maybe I should really start checking my partner’s cell phone bills. Largely, these surveys conform to the ‘everything you wanted to ask, but couldn’t’ format. A population of more than a billion serves as a precursor to one truth - we may be shy talking about it, but are sure as hell doing it with great aplomb. Over the last decade or so, a few national magazines have an issue dedicated to this cause – the annual sex survey. In them, you get facts such as which city has the highest rate of extra-marital sex, the percentage of people who have tried a particular sex position, among other such libido enhancing revelations. But the sex survey can do so much more than just elicit letters of wrath from readers, induc...

By chance, dad and I took a new road on our walk and were headed toward a tried and tested place for breakfast. Lo and behold, a new, very appealing darshini that went by the moniker ‘South Thindis’ beckoned. A very appealing mural greets you and the fare is good. Dosas, idli etc. and they make akki roti and ragi roti after 11 or something. This chance discovery led me to wonder – how many ever darshinis are there and how many ever you visit, we could always do with one more. The darshini phenomenon isn’t present in any other city. If you are starving in Mumbai, you can always stop for chat. Alas, Bangalore is not blessed in this regard but the humble darshini more than makes up for this lack. Try finding a reasonable place for grub in an area like Indiranagar or some such other posh locality. At their worse, they serve bad coffee.How do you judge a darshini? In my opinion, by the quality of their masala dosa and coffee. If the dosa is crap, the darshini is fit to drown itself in ...

Some one year back, Bangalore welcomed India’s largest mall, gave it space, electricity, water and land amidst all the aforementioned shortages. In the last decade, this decadent mall culture has crept up and before we know it, every major road in all cities seems to have been bestowed with them. Another avenue for us to do some window shopping in style. As if a mall in the midst of a half dug up road, submerged in a cloud of vehicle smoke and surrounded by retarded motorists adds to the beauty of the moment. When Thomas Friedman said the world is flat, everyone seemed to nod their heads in unison. And in the last decade and a half, we seem to be in a terrible hurry to import outside influences without raising an eye brow. Major food chains have found their way into our daily existence and some of the fares they dish out are a delight to the palate. In the same spirit, if we assiduously made an effort to also import their dignity of labor and sense of civic hygiene, and lane disc...

It had to occur when I was asleep. The countless replays and reruns ever since cannot make up for that one moment of letting your guard down. When Anil Kumble ran through a hapless Pakistani line-up one February afternoon at the Feroz Shah Kotla, I woke up just in time for the last two wickets. During that passage of play, one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship also played itself out parallely. Javagal Srinath attempted what no other bowler ever had – giving it your heart and soul in a bid not to get a wicket. The rest they say is history. Many reams of paper have been deployed to describe this legend’s legacy, whose exploits are well entrenched in the annals of the game. For who can forget his perfect 10, his broken jaw that didn’t get in his way or how he helped India cross the finish line with his bat in an unforgettable ODI with his statemate Srinath at Bangalore. But to limit Anil Kumble to his achievements would be a great disservice to this man. For he is far more than ...

Given the scheme of things, January 10th is touted as the date by which 95% of the people that bothered to make resolutions have broken them. Why 'new year' resolution and not new month, new week or new day resolution? The New Year gives us a false notion of excess time. 365 days to change everything we don't like about ourselves. If a careful analysis were to be done, all resolutions follow a pattern, much like a product lifecycle. To put this into perspective, let’s put the lifecycle of a universal resolution under the microscope- one to lose weight and get fit. Your neighbour speaks glowingly of the princely sum she paid to look like a princess at the swanky new gym - and taunts you by saying she'll be unrecognisable in a few weeks. The newest lifestyle magazine in tow says love handles are injurious to attraction. The celebrity doctor says you live longer if you minus the extra flab and the sex doctor says your love life will give the neighbours insomni...