Ayasofya, Istanbul’s defining landmark at the heart of the city in history-soaked Sultanahmet is often referred in guidebooks as one of the greatest monuments a traveler will ever see. From the outside it isn’t very impressive – its exposed brickwork and peeling façade only downplaying and readying you for the dizzying effect it has upon [...]

The other day my brother complained about my mother wearing the rida* when she went out with us.
At an up-market restaurant mainly frequented by corporate types, the staff doesn’t seem too keen on giving us a table. But we persist in waiting. On our way to a table, curious glances follow us. Or perhaps all [...]

A BBC radio anchor was fired in November 2008 for making racist remarks. She called a taxi service to pick up her daughter, and insisted that they not send an Asian driver with a turban as that “would freak out her daughter”. It is true that children, specially babies respond well to face types that [...]

I spent the last four days in Goa. It wasn’t a holiday of sand, sea and sangria, but a workshop held by Video Volunteers. On the other hand it did turn into a holiday of a different sort – of hard work, total immersion in an earnest experience, a genuine feeling of both giving and [...]

The worst thing you can do to a girl is saddle her with a sister early on in life. The sister is always going to be more beautiful or more intelligent or more virtuous or more cheerful or more obedient or wear better hats - none of which helps in the making of the confident, [...]

Three films amongst the very many that I have seen in the last two months deserve a special mention. Pestonjee (dir: Vijaya Mehta, 1987), Chhoti Si Baat (dir: Basu Chatterjee, 1975) and Chakra (dir: Rabindra Dharmaraj, 1980) are the films that I am talking about and I saw them all after a gap of two [...]

In the last couple of months or so, the subcontinent has seen a ghastly and violent migration of human beings that is comparable with the partition of the sub-continent in 1947 and then again in 1971. It’s playing out on our TV screens and the internet.  Huge masses of Swatis leaving [...]

Where does one draw the line between journalism and public relations (pr) in the film industry? I am really confused after having spent a good 30 years as a film journalist. I experienced this schizophrenia among several Mumbai journalists many summers ago. But it was not as brazen as it is in Kolkata. You really wouldn’t [...]

“Are you the same Karan Bali who is Sita’s brother?” a female colleague asked me about a year and a half ago. “Yes”, I answered. “Why?” Prompt came the reply, “My mum was friends with your sister.” Till then I had given no thought to the fact that she was 27 and me 39. As [...]

Basking in the mellow sun of a Kolkata winter, we share a chillum with Ghulam Fakir, one of the greatest living singers and ascetics of the Fakiri tradition of Bengal. The fresh weed, grown in Ghulam-da’s own backyard, is a knock-out. As the chillum goes around a friend who is a co-organiser of the Baul-Fakir [...]