Seven days into the new year, I’m still high on the heady surge of intentions. One of which is to blog more regularly. (Assume all possible disclaimers here.) The year’s been going well. So far:
- uppit and rawa idli at Mavalli Tiffin Room: a wonderful place to witness a strange alliance of motion and stillness — waiters moving in and out of the kitchen in their white knee-length lungis serving an endless inflow of hungry patrons, clattering plates, clinking coffee cups, and everywhere, the relentless slurping, chewing, swallowing. Then there are the people waiting to eat. Groups of two or three around every table. Patient as flies. They stare into the distance or read the newspaper, do their best not to hover. This is also a place that strips the act of eating down to its basics. Assembly line preparation and precise, almost-mechanical servings. How simple the act of eating and feeding can be, how devoid of fuss, how elemental. Photos.
- three beautiful books of poetry: Answering Back, an anthology of poems edited by Carol Ann Duffy, features current poets talking back to poets from the past. It includes gems like Carol Rumens telling Larkin that “Not everybody’s / Childhood sucked”; Billy Collins’ gumptious answer to Yeats’ Musee des Beaux Arts; and Imtiaz Dharker matching Rumi myth for myth. By and large, I found myself preferring the older poems, but of course this is not a competition and one doesn’t have to choose. What it’s really about is language play, subversion and, in some cases, plain defiance, as each poet tries to fashion something new within the derived framework. Here’s a review. I also (finally) found and bought Daljit Nagra’s Look Who We Have Coming to Dover and Tishani Doshi’s Countries of the Body.
- a new pair of sneakers for all those noble resolutions about getting some exercise. They’ve been carefully put away in the shoe cabinet. Any day now.
- and my article on female condoms at The Guardian Cif.
2 Comments
January 9, 2009 at 8:56 am
I’ve never done MTR despite several visits to Bangalore. Where is it? I am willing to stand in the long queue for uppit.
Good luck with all your resolutions.
January 13, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Yep year is coming nice for you with the three beautiful poetry books. So keep rocking..
uhh even the poem rocks, just you need to buzz pink floyd while reading them.