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I almost went to Chiang Mai for New Year's Eve 2016. I had been harbouring a dream of seeing thousands of lanterns floating up into the night, Tangled -style, even though this wasn't the main festival for it. I've also long harboured a desire to have a special last-day-of-the-year, which is usually a meh affair. So Thailand had seemed like a great plan at the time, but I was hesitating – and then, just as I'd made up my mind to click on the tickets, the prices suddenly skyrocketed. The universe decided for me. It was mostly okay; I was just embarking on my first relationship, there were things to look forward to. Maybe if I'd known that not going on that trip would start a seven-year travel hiatus, I would have booked it anyway. I had the money, though my job was in trouble. But we have no way of knowing the future, so I folded up the dream and put it away. Over the years, I thought about it again, but the discourse around lanterns had become dimmer: they were toxic...

CAST OF CHARACTERS: Elsie, my great-grandmother Patience, my nani (maternal grandmother) Suzanne Neve, actress, as Emma Carleton Hobbes, actor, as Sherlock Holmes In a letter to her daughter Patience dated 4 July 1970, my great-grandmother Elsie wrote about enjoying BBC plays on the radio: "Do you all hear the BBC plays on the transistor? Did you'll [sic] hear the 'Conquest' by Somerset Maugham the other day it is a lovely interesting play & acted so well really — BBC is tops & we hear all this on that small Phillips radio we bought from [?] for Rs 100 — we play our records on the other radio — we made the Gram elec. — the other radio we have to play on a battery — Batteries have become so expensive now eh!" I was dreaming of connecting with my great-grandparents by listening to the same things they once listened to, but... does W. Somerset Maugham even have a story called Conquest ? I tried researching more about the BBC Radio in India — most likely the p...

Truly fascinating phrase, isn't it? I was made aware of this twist on it through an Instagram reel, of all things. Apparently a similar phrase was used to dismissively refer to Shakespeare, and then to all "generalists" – people interested in and fairly good at multiple things, who chose not to narrow their focus – and this second line seems to have been added on more recently. One of my favourite K-dramas,  Hometown Cha Cha Cha,  features a man who holds a whole assortment of qualifications. Known simply as Chief Hong, he's taken courses in everything from painting houses and being a realtor to fruit plating and entertaining children. (At one point, Yoon Hye-jin actually wonders if he's a certified dentist too, and doesn't seem surprised at the prospect!) We see him speak Russian, read Mandarin, communicate via sign language, repair a boat, make soap, make wine, make coffee, make a jewellery box, cook, patrol, take photographs, read poetry, collect records, f...

Inside the shop they could dimly see the glass-topped counter that ran round three sides of it. And in a case under the glass were rows and rows of dark, dry gingerbread, each slab so studded with gilt stars that the shop itself seemed to be faintly lit by them.  – P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins , chapter 8  The earliest memory I have about Mary Poppins is of my mom and nani singing "a spoonful of sugarrr makes the medicine go down" when we were kids, but I only watched the film when I was in my late teens, and probably not its intended demographic. I remember liking parts of it, including the word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", the carpet bag of miracles, the chimney sweeps, and Julie Andrews, of course. I wasn't a fan of the animation.  A few years later, I watched Saving Mr. Banks and realised P. L. Travers hadn't been a fan of the cartoons either. This film was interesting, apart from the long mansplaining at the end, but it was still a Disney film....

I've seen snow falling only twice in my life, but for some reason, I've always been fascinated by it. The first time I witnessed it was magical , and at the time, I never imagined so many years would pass before I could see it again. It's all over my Instagram, but I don't know if or when I'll actually get to be around snow. It's not even cold where I live.  So I've been living vicariously through my latest obsession: Korean dramas. I'm not sure why it took me this long, or what exactly helped me make up my mind to watch them, but there's no going back. As of yesterday, I've finished six shows and one Christmas web series , and that's not a lot by any means. (I can also read/write a bunch of words in Hangeul now!) But a few patterns have begun to emerge, and I'm eager to learn more about this world. All the shows I've watched so far have been essentially romances of different types, so perhaps these features are characteristic of the ...

Wednesdays are slow. I never know what to do with them; it feels like I'm drained by Tuesday and Friday is too far away. (I've been trying to work 4-day weeks since April, but Wednesday still feels the same.)  This week, however, Wednesday was different. I had a chance to chat with Kamil Trzebiatowski about my favourite book series, Anne of Green Gables and its sequels by L.M. Montgomery. Kamil is writing a book about the influence of these books on his life and ethics, alongside a website and YouTube channel called Tenderness Lessons . I was honoured to be the first guest on his new video series, Conversations About Anne . We talked about how we first "met" Anne, the themes of the books and what we've taken away from them, Anne and Gilbert's relationship, the role of nature, and the importance of a well-rounded and balanced life. This was a great opportunity for me to expand on some of the ideas in my 2017 post Growing up with Anne Shirley , as well as one fr...

Then it was time for the satay. Rachel bit into the succulent grilled chicken, savoring its smoky sweetness carefully. The rest of them watched her intently. "Okay, Nick, you were right. I've never had decent satay until now.  – Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians, chapter 14 I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, perhaps because I felt rather lukewarm about the film a couple of years ago. The book's Hollywood-isation stripped it largely of its satire, turning it into a mushy, dramatic onscreen romance complete with makeovers, cringey caricatures and a grand gesture on an airplane (more original than an airport). It's such mis-adapting that has led to the wide belief that Jane Austen wrote "love stories", when what she actually exposed were the nuances of stratification and relationships through humour and irony. I bring up Austen because more than one critic compared Crazy Rich Asians  to one of her works, but probably for different reasons, the ...

My obsession with Greece began ten years ago, when, in my second year of college, I opted for Greek and Indian Classics as one of my papers. I borrowed a book on Greek mythology, avidly discussed Homer and Euripedes and Aristotle's views on friendship, and made a wonderful Greek penpal, Sophie – my first friend from this beautiful country. From her, I learned that there is an island in Greece just like my name*, and about Yannis Markopoulos' Liturgy of Orpheus , based on Orphic poems and possibly my favourite character from Greek mythology. I did not write that I travelled to Greece seven years later to finally visit Sophie, who is a singer, among many other things. Every drawing of Orpheus and his lyre stood out to me, whether at museums or on a set of coasters (I bought the latter). I attended a concert in the awe-inspiring Odeon of Herodes Atticus theatre. And while visiting Santorini, I had the luck of being there during the Caldera Arts and Literature Festival ...

Anne Shirley portrayed by various actresses over the years. (L-R) Mary Miles Minter in the silent comedy film Anne of Green Gables (1919). Image by Paramount Pictures via Wikimedia Commons ||  Megan Follows in the TV movie Anne of Green Gables (1985). Image from IMDb || Mandy Harmon in the YouTube modern adaptation Green Gables Fables (2014-2016) . Image from their Facebook page . || Amybeth McNulty in the Netflix series Anne with an E (2017). Image from IMDb (c) Northwood Productions, Sophie Giraud, CBC. In 2011, when I was packing for my move to London, I decided to put only one book that I had already read in my suitcase. I would be living in a different country and away from my family for the first time, and  Anne of the Island, I thought, would be like a friend when I felt alone, especially for the first few days while I got used to my new life. But this third installment of L.M. Montgomery's  Anne series, by far my favourite, remained unopened on...

Sooni Taraporevala is an Indian photographer, screenwriter and director who has extensively documented her city, Bombay, and her Parsi community. This interview was originally published on Art Radar , now defunct, on 30 August 2017.  “Sooni Taraporevala: Home in the City, Bombay 1976 – Mumbai 2016” is at the Whitworth in Manchester through early 2018, featuring 30 black and white photographs by Taraporevala spanning four decades. The exhibition is developed in partnership with Sunaparanta, Goa Centre for the Arts. Art Radar finds out more.  Curated by Sunaparanta’s Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, this exhibition is only a small selection from the work of a photographer who has been, since the 1970s, diligently documenting the numerous and changing faces of the city she calls home. Sooni Taraporevala is also a renowned screenwriter and award-winning director. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014, and her photographs have been exhibited at the Tate Modern, the National Gallery o...