When Islam wrote to me

It had been going on for some time. Every week I received at least a couple of letters that told me of the greatness of Islam and the wonderful Moslem way of life. For some reason, these letters always arrived at my personal email address, evading the spam blockers.  The writers’ names included James Joseph, [...]

Compulsory Disclosures

Namaste’. My friends who have visited this site insist that I should tell a little more about myself. There is nothing impressive to say. These many friends of mine call me Prithvi and I have known most of them from childhood and teens. More formally, I am Prithviraj Bhaskar Shankar. It is a very impressive [...]

CURRENT SHOCKS

 
These are times when football stars and equally semiliterate pop artistes write their autobiographies before they are twenty two. Since it is a thriving business, I believe that it must be worth quite a lot of money, in the initial stages at least. I do not know what profound insights these celebrities have on offer.
 
As [...]

An ancient kingdom, its people

 
My mother’s family came from the very southern tip of India, an area then known as Naanchinaad. It included present day districts of Kanayakumari, Nagercoil and possibly parts of Thirunelveli. I say so because we had branches of the family settled all over the place till about fifty years ago.
 
Though largely Tamil speaking, till Indian [...]

Of courtyards, verandas and bamboo canes

 
It was many years ago. The setting is sometime in the early sixties. My grandfather was a chartered accountant with many rich clients. He had his office on the ground floor of the family house. There was a direct access to the office from the large airy veranda. My own father was a taxation lawyer [...]