Ratna-Rajaiah-Blogs

Hasi Malkani For the world, she was my landlady and I was her paying guest, living for many years in one of the two little but very clean ...

I suppose many people think that some things are really not of very much use. A few days ago, I read a news item that said that 1...

We have a neem tree just outside the gate of our house.  A magnificent towering tree,  a tree cathedral really, because if you stand un...

I’m thinking, how did the phrase “as poor as church mice” come about?  I mean are there mice that are rich, mice that live in Bill Gat...

"I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere."  Jawaharlal Nehru It’s...

I am fascinated by the cornucopia of avatars of verbs in Indian languages and how, often by using a word that's just a syllable-long, w...

A cucumber In December Said  I remember I remember Chilling out,  Lying about In a Cool, pink gazpacho Cuddling a tomato I reme...

Bhendi. Lady's fingers. Or okra, as the Americans call it. The word "okra" is of African origin and means "lady'...

C. Ramachandra - one of the greatest music directors in Hindi cinema.  (Just to jog your memory - Shola jo bhadke dil mera dhadke , O c...

"We were the first"   to show you  bomb blasts,  body parts scams bursting dams "We were the first" to cry "Sha...

This morning, a street vendor passed by selling mangoes and 'avarekai'. Was a time when mangoes spelt summertime and 'avarek...

Burnt-brown Bitter-sweet Rock-hard Crumbly-ness That melts When you Touch and rub And let lie on  your tongue and swirl in bitter...

Did you know that the banana can help cure high blood pressure? Scientists at the Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, Karnataka condu...

This is a gloriously simple cabbage bhaji (poriyal in Tamil, palya in Kannada) and you can make it with any other vegetable 1 small cabb...

Palak Raita  2 small bunches of palak 250 gms curd, whipped to a creamy smoothness Seasoning Freshly ground pepper Salt Chopped fresh cori...

Devatha Manushya

I walk The road Ahead is straight Familiar, well-trodden So I think... I walk The corners Crouch in the shadows Waiting

I'm worried about the worm What if it won't turn What if the worm is dead (Long Live the Worm) I'm worried about the worm.....

Words  My lovers Unfaithful, maddening lovers Taunting me with How sweetly they lay, now lie with another Weaving immortal m...

 (Reviving an old MId-Day column to pay tribute to the Iron Lady) Last week, newsworthiness-wise, it was a toss-up between Prannoy Ro...