My Grandmother, A Remembrance Full of Regrets

She raised her six children there, turning from a soft-spoken woman — as she battled her way through life — to a parsimonious tyrant, raising money through every means to send them through school and college.

Dreams and Birds, and Cricket at the Dentist’s

The needle was long, and the barrel huge, so my jaw died for a while. The Dentist tore into my teeth, all the while speaking with his assistant about Kumble’s fantastic century.

Feeling Good and Bad at the Melukote Temple

This temple is a place of pilgrimage on account of the saint Ramanujacharya, who lived in Melukote during the rule of Vishnuvardhana, nine hundred years ago. More recently, the Wodeyars have poured generosity upon it.

Return to the Now Drowned Magge Church

This visit, I went there on a theppa (coracle). Reaching the church, only the top of which is exposed, I sat on a dry part on the Southern wall, feeling tiny, my body and mind lost in the immensity of water.

A Lite History of Singapore

She wanted lions, and the realtors said: "Lions also can see, la." Utama rejoiced, settled down with Siti on the island, and gave Temasek a new name.

Even in Modern Singapore

Everybody who passed stared at it: young and old, Singaporeans and Japanese and Westerners, women and men. Many took pictures, some took lots of pictures.

Nassim Road, Singapore

Nassim is the name of a Jewish family that once owned a lodge there that they sold, and several of their family migrated to Israel.

Singapore, Arrival

Taking in the moment, I sensed another, presently inaudible rumble: cars revving up; buses starting at their terminals; the MRT starting up — at various points across this small island, all to converge here, on Orchard Road.

With U.R. Ananthamurthy and Abdul Rasheed

Ananthamurthy stoked Rasheed's thoughts, and mine, put forth his views, and the possibilities crackled and multiplied.

Our Bucolic Neighbours, and Some Questions on Land Use

We could see the horizon on all sides now, and fertile land running all the way up to it. I wondered at the wisdom of granting arable land to the industry when the nation suffers a shortage of it.