My Favorite Friend

My entire childhood feels like a long, summer afternoon. From the time I was 7 or 8, the common theme in my life was bicycles, balmy afternoons, my younger brother Dhruv, and the anticipation of remarkable adventures on the horizon all the time. It’s strange how school didn’t dominate my life. I went to school,...

Slacking, but not really

I slacked off on an email that I wanted to be junk, but it really wasn't. WordPress mailed me 47 days ago, telling my that my domain was going to expire and I should pay up. I just ignored it because it was easier. Also, somehow, I had managed to get Dhruv - my younger...

A short story about Anisa Nariman and bad beer.

The first time I met Anisa Nariman, we had a conversation about roofies. I can’t clearly recall how it got there, but she was disarmingly inappropriate and one thing lead to another, and in between all the dialogue there was a “Yeah you probably roofied yourself”. It was 2 A.M at a friend’s house where...

The Bathroom Report

It’s interesting when you get an email laced with humor from an editor. It suddenly makes the writing process a lot easier and fun because you know that the person at the other end is human. A few months ago I was asked to write an article on bathrooms and the multi-faceted space they represent...

Time and time again.

Time and time again I find myself writing about my growing up years, of moving around the country from one Air Force Base to another. Maybe it’s my security blanket or maybe I like re-visiting that time of my life because it all felt like a dream. When I was 9 years old, I moved...

Everybody’s gone to the moon

I started a fortnightly column for the Sunday Guardian a week ago. I haven't felt this kind of pressure to perform with 800 words or less since my book came out. It's not so much about finding things to write about, it's more about reaching the expectations of an editor who I admire and want...

What’s the story?

My friend Meghna is kind of spectacular. She is volatile, beautiful, spontaneous, stylish and responds to names ranging from 'Meghnatron' to 'Madmax' to - everyone's favorite - 'Meghni Flower' (when she's in a good mood) and 'Meghni Cactus' (when she is enjoying a good murder). I have never felt bored in her company and I'm...

Czech it out

“How do you pronounce ‘P.r.a.g.u.e’?” I knew this was a trap. It was not the first time my mother had asked me this. “Praha.” “Very good. And what about ‘H.a.g.u.e’?” “Haha.” I think this little joke lasted a good two years between us before it died out. I must have been 8. Took me a...

Bombay Unlimited

My friend Cyrus and I have worked as sounding boards for each other for the last ten years. In this period we’ve both changed jobs and industries several times and somehow it’s always worked to have his opinion floating around somewhere in my head before I took a leap or stuck to a current situation....

Vous Êtes Sexy

A couple of years ago I wanted to interview most of the people around me. I had come to a place in my life in Bombay where I knew achingly interesting people. And I wanted to document them. But not in the way one would using a rule-book or a set of questions that had grown...