Mental Excursions

The Unintended Message                                                                                              -Anupama S Mani After years of announcements, presentations and artist's impressions, this is the closest I have come to seeing a bullet train in Indian Railways. Photo: Hansel Aubert All of us have heard the cliché that a picture speaks a thousand words. The photographs that follow do something more. They tell stories their creators probably never intended to tell. In this relentless summer, that may be as good a reason as any to smile. The only elevator I've seen that honestly advertises its principal function. Built in 1978 on a hotel that opened in 1922, it is no longer in passenger service but still lights up for special occasions—an...

Passport to Performance                                                                                                                                                  - Anupama S Mani I have been made to understand that India is now a world leader. We are the most populous country on earth, our economy is rising and our people are found in every corner of the globe. It is therefore only natural that the world should take a keen interest in our activities. Having already exported our software engineers, doctors and mango laasey ( lassi ), we now seem to be exporting our holiday habits with equal enthusiasm. Indeed, several...

The Moral Burden of Almond Butter I found them while clearing my small pantry. Sitting at the back of the shelf were these two small jars, one with a golden lid, the other with a black one. I remembered one came in a Diwali hamper, the other as a thoughtful gift from someone I had met for the first time and to whom I had in my frequent bouts of unabashed frankness and stupidity, told I ‘love’ almonds. The next time I met her, she leaned forward, her eyes wide with mystery, her voice a mere confidential whisper near my neck, “You must try this, it is not regular almond butter,” and thrust a package into my hand. I came home and opened it. Inside was a 200-gram jar that displayed a price more than my monthly milk bill. I kept it at the back of the shelf and of my memory. It stayed there hibernating, till a few days ago when I was clearing up to prepare for the humid weather.   What must have looked like a spread when packed, now had acquired a different personality. The o...

Lanterns, Tailors, and Missed Purchases By nightfall, Hoi An stops looking like a city and begins resembling a slow-moving festival of light. Luckily, we had no agenda for Hoi An. Of the cities we visited, Hoi An felt like the one where I could simply absorb the atmosphere.   A young Vietnamese friend had joined us. Leaving Mani in the hotel with his favourite possession — mobile phone, early in the evening we left for what I later understood was the reason the younger duo chose the city. The city central market feels a little cramped, shops exuding old world charm, clean roads but broken footpaths much like Indore, the city named the cleanest in India. Yet what surprised me was how the city is the hub of bespoke attire. Custom suits, shirts, dresses, or leather shoes, whatever you need, you can get it made within 48 hours, that too, at very affordable prices. I was reminded of James Bond and his sculptural suits, and marvelled at how unknown Hoi An tailors can stitch perfec...