Shiv on the shore
When the great flood or fire finishes the world, Guyana’s Shivnarine Chanderpaul may still be batting
“To Lahli we went like pilgrims to a mela.” Farewell, for India Today.
Forsaking aching breaking years
“Except possibly Springsteen I’m not sure I’d heard formulations like that in rock before. They were vague and specific, correct and powerful.” Australian rock songs in an Indian teenagehood, for Christian Ryan’s magnificent new production, Rock Country
Humaira Bachal founded a school in a squatter colony in Karachi when she was 13.
Her story, for Intelligent Life.
Of two Indian cricketers who found love on tour, romance by post, and left to make a home in countries far away. The Nightwatchman.
A review of James Astill’s book on Indian cricket, for the New York Times.
“The great sitar player Ustad Vilayat Khan once said the idea of a jugalbandi was to both showcase and subdue oneself. As he hands over to his partner, the artiste must judge how much to dissolve the tune. Dravid and Laxman dissolved into one another more harmoniously, more significantly, than any other Indian duo.”
A tribute to the great batsmen in Wisden Almanack no. 150.
“Its aim is simple: to celebrate the best fiction of our time, regardless of form or genre, and to bring it to the attention of as many readers as possible. Through The Folio Prize Academy, an international group of people who write, review and delight in books, it will discover and promote excellence in writing, encouraging people to put great literature at the centre of their lives.”
A short conversation with Duncan McKenzie about his beautiful photographs from Ladakh. Intelligent Life magazine.
‘They were old and young, cussed and carefree, short and tall, bald and hirsute, consumers of orange juice or buffalo milk or vodka, and could greet or abuse you in about eight languages.’
On a memorable bunch of cricketers, for Wisden India, the new blue almanack.