Guest Column: IDiva’s “Break Free” issue

I had a guest column appear in Times of India’s IDiva supplement today. The brief I was given was “life as a PYT (pretty young thing) in Chennai”. What fun!
Whatever anyone might say about me and my having grown up abroad, take this: I lived in Sowcarpet for eight months in my late teens. How’s [...]

The Venus Flytrap: New To The Neighbourhood

Congratulations on your successful relocation. I know you’re feeling a little lonely out here, but the easiest way to settle in is to throw a party. I understand your new neighbourhood is a diverse one, so I’m here to help you ensure that everybody is comfortable and catered for. Start by picking the right time [...]

Interview in Sify’s Stree

An interview I gave to Sify much earlier this year has finally been published in Stree, their women’s section. I quite enjoyed these questions, and find that my answers would be much the same even today. And I thought it was funny how the title has one word, the url another, but at least the [...]

Storm In a T-Cup & The Language Of Experience

I should have posted this up sooner, but here it is. My first post for Ultraviolet in quite awhile,  on thoughts about language and expression after the controversy about Penelope Trunk tweeting about her miscarriage. Read it here.

The Venus Flytrap: Deactivation Drama

I feel inordinately smug when I tell people that I’ve deactivated my Facebook account. The expressions of shock that greet this statement are a testament to the social networking website’s sheer hold over contemporary living. Foraying into Internet hermitude is not just impressive, it’s downright inspiring, it seems: every time I’ve mentioned it I’ve been [...]

Reading This Saturday

Asma and Manasi have been holding poetry meets at a private residence in Chennai for a few months now, and I’m happy to tell you that I’ll be coming out of my cave  for the first time in six months for a reading this Saturday, October 3rd. I’ll be reading from new work, as well [...]

The City As Canvas

I have a long essay on the aesthetics of the city of Chennai in the current issue of Caravan magazine. Caravan is a journal of politics and culture and is available nationwide at good bookshops, and can also be read digitally here.

The Venus Flytrap: Dancing With Eyes Closed

Every day I read my cards. Every day, I draw them, decipher them, and am drawn back to them. And every day, I look up my horoscopes. For my sun sign, my rising sign, and the signs of those I care for. I read a whole bouquet – and I’m not the sort to pick [...]

Some Paintings, a Q+A, an Elephant

My childhood friend and incredibly gifted artist Michael Mata did these amazing digital paintings of me for my birthday.
And Abhimanyu Kumar Singh, who is my favourite interviewer and the kind of reader a writer lives for, did this lighthearted Q+A over lunch last week. We also played Cadaver Exquisito, which he’s reprinted in his blog [...]

Stalk Me Not

Well, Not More Than I Might Want You To (she typed, passive aggressively).
On my 100th tweet, I realised that I hadn’t mentioned it on my blog. Here.

Review: Binu and the Great Wall by Su Tong (trans. Howard Goldblatt)

Published as part of The Myths series, which retells timeless classics from around the world in the words of some of the best contemporary writers, Binu and the Great Wall by Su Tong recreates a two-millennia old legend from China about a woman who travels hundreds of miles in search of her husband, who has [...]

My Friend Sancho And Amit Varma In Chennai

I’ll be in conversation with Amit Varma about his debut novel, My Friend Sancho, on Monday evening. My Friend Sancho was longlisted for the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize. Amit Varma is a winner of the Bastiat Prize, was named one of Business Week’s 50 Most Powerful People In India, and publishes India Uncut.
Details about [...]

A Soundtrack For The Rainless

For everybody else stuck in shitty cities, but especially for those stuck in shitty cities with no rain. Here, respite you can replay.