Padmini Kolhapure, Bollywood Actress, on My Magical Palace
~“Nice … opens up your mind … gives u an idea of social prejudices in India … against a backdrop of a beautiful narration” – Padmini Kolhapure
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My Magical Embassy
~Interview by Prasad Krishamurthy of Conde Nast about writing My Magical Palace
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Atul Kulkarni, Bollywood Actor, on My Magical Palace
~“Love knows no boundary, no religious or sexual prejudice, love is an emotion which is about an individual’s feeling towards another individual … and this belief of mine has be re-affirmed by this book … kudos to the author”– Atul Kulkarni
Read MoreBody Memories
~Your warm body remembers me. It holds me like a grooved spoon. Your knees rest in the crook of mine. Softly undulating your breath whispers gentle kisses on the nape of my neck. Like tides our burning skin ebbs and flows into each other. And so the night passes as we hold each […]
Read MoreIndrani Mukherjee bids farewell to India’s First Superstar
~I am very sad to learn of Rajesh Khanna’s passing. I was Rajesh Khanna’s heroine in his first released movie Aakhri Khat. He was a real super star and one of my favourite co-stars. I am reading My Magical Palace written by Kunal Mukherjee, my sister’s son who is very close to my heart and […]
Read MoreRIP Rajesh Khanna
~I am devastated by the loss of Rajesh Khanna, the actor and film star who had no parallel and never will. The special and extraordinary adoration of his fans was bestowed on no one else. His charm and mannerisms crafted a generation. My Magical Palace is at its heart the ode of a young boy […]
Read MoreLast Rain of Winter
~The past winter was dry. Each day dawned bright and sunny, the sky unmarred by a single cloud. The confused cherry blossoms bloomed too early. The usually rainy holidays were bone dry and passionate skiers walked around sulking. I noted the absence of snowboarding casualties, easily recognized by the men and women staggering into the […]
Read MoreWhy do I write?
~I wonder about that. Perhaps because I love to read so much and spent an entire childhood voraciously devouring books. Or perhaps because both my grandmothers were accomplished writers and had a passion for language and literature. My great-grandmother wrote her last poem at the age of 99 in Bengali. Or perhaps because I grew up encouraged to read anything I wanted, though I seldom saw my parents anything but The Deccan Chronicle newspaper.
Read MoreThe Papaya Grove
~Papita or Papaya, is one of the ubiquitous treasures of the tropics, but nowhere so revered and exalted as in India. Its medicinal qualities and benefits to health and digestion are legendary. It was also the reason for my first sex education talk at the age of eight.
All through summer, my father bought raw papayas from the market. I loved papaya chutney made in the Bengali style in the early summer months. Thin slices of raw papaya were cooked in light sugar syrup with a little fresh lime juice. It is a very simple dish, and is delicious when eaten with the curries of the summer season when the weather is very warm.
Read MorePassport – do not leave home without it
~When folks in San Francisco ask me about my trip to India, I tell them about the friends and family I met, the incredible food and restaurants and the incredibly modern and well designed buildings, I skip the part about the near disastrous start or my attack of food poisoning or the cancelled flights. Because while I could have easily done without those challenges, my trip was still just fantastic. Still, here is an account of the very avoidable and near disastrous beginning of the trip.
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