Cross Connections

As with any written word, I am intrigued by signatures. My own has caused banks and other institutions much confusion simply because I '...

Still from 'Life of Pi' "He wants to see the actor's mind in a shot." Actress Tabu said this about Ang Lee wh...

Homai Vyarawalla was always described as the “first lady photographer”, and the thought of someone tiptoeing with a little camera, gently c...

I always suspected that Mona Lisa was a bit of a wild cat. Something to do with the Cheshire cat smile. Oh, I know, it has been analy...

Stephen Hawking says something quite ordinary and there is a reaction. The battle between science and religion is old and makes little sense...

Pilgrims on the way Every year, in some part of the world, in some pilgrim sites, people die. Tents burned, landslides, stampedes. Yet, y...

“Have you been there?” “How well do you know about the place, the person, the idea…?” These queries have beset me and, I am certain, sever...

The purists are puking. Venus has got a hand job and Mars can now boast of a nice little phallus. These ancient statues did not have the...

Blood, perspiration, urine, tears. Another artist uses his bodily fluids. I can imagine the shock value, but they call it message. Or, Messa...

Stephen Hawking is baulking at the wrong evolutionary tree. He may choose gravity over God to rationalise the creation of the universe, but ...

If you did not look at the fruit, you would think it was all about love. Now David Bellingham, a programme director at Sotheby’s Institute o...

Jaswant and Tharoor by Farzana Versey April 20, 2010 You had a stand-up comedian in your midst and you did not even notice. The beauty of J...

I remember best when I am in a state of turmoil. Then why are scientists saying that stronger and more lasting memories are likely to be for...

Can you imagine Indian President Pratibha Patil saying that tur daal is good for mating or Asif Ali Zardari voicing his approval for magaz ...

Now when you see a Chinese face, think of your great-great-great-ad nauseum grandparents. The hakka noodles could well be Indian. This is re...

Mona Lisa waves out? I am not sure I’d like to have a little chat with Mona Lisa or want her to wave out to me like some movie star. This is...

The Lonely Punter by Farzana Versey Countercurrents, 29 November 2008 He chose the wrong time to die. His timing was often ...

You wouldn’t know Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio even if a whole bottle of Eau de whatever was emptied in your nose and glasses of Chardonnay...

I don’t know how the US presidential candidate would have reacted to a headline like Barack Obama seeks Hanuman’s blessings in race for Whit...

Am sure Naushad saab had no such desires when he left this world – to see his beloved Carter road named after him. But it is now Sangeet Sam...