18 01, 2025

Simon Schama and I  

By |January 18th, 2025|Categories: Biography, Cultural Appropriation, Events, History, India, Kennington, Lost History, Mixed relationships, Novels and short stories, Oxford|0 Comments

Simon Schama and I   https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0026zyn/simon-schamas-story-of-us-series-1-2-whose-britain-is-it-anyway I may not have Simon Schama’s brains and erudition but, watching episode 2 of 'Whose Britain is it any way' made me realise that we share the same attitude to the evolution of this

18 01, 2025

The Water of Life: Bill Nighy, Victor Glynn and I

By |January 18th, 2025|Categories: Ashoka, Buddhism, Events, India, Kennington, Kenya, Lost History, Mixed relationships, Nalanda, Novels and short stories, Oxford, Oxford Castaways, The Bodleian library, The Stars ArtMovement|0 Comments

The Water of Life: Bill Nighy, Victor Glynn and I   Do you find that life is like water –rivers flowing alongside crossing, meeting and blending? Thursday was like that for me. The film producer Victor Glynn suggested I be

27 12, 2024

What have Michael Rosen, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Professor Irene Tracey, Korky Paul, Paterson Joseph and me in common?

By |December 27th, 2024|Categories: Ashoka, Buddhism, Events, India, Kennington, Kenya, Mixed relationships, Nalanda, Novels and short stories, Oxford, Oxford Castaways, The Bodleian library, The Oxford Times, The Stars ArtMovement|0 Comments

I love the Today programme during the Christmas period, when it has guest editors. Their choice of in depth subject matter is inspirational. First off was author and screenwriter, Frank Cottrell Boyce, on a subject dear to my heart -

23 07, 2024

My Town /Gown Literary Walk Inspired by Sculpting the Elephant

By |July 23rd, 2024|Categories: Antiques, Art, India, Lost History, Mixed relationships, Nalanda, Novels and short stories, Oxford, Shepherd.com, The Bodleian library|0 Comments

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19607563.novel-walk-around-oxford-author-sylvia-vetta/ Most visitors to Oxford cluster around a few streets of Dreaming Spires and, in my opinion, miss out on the complexities of this beautiful city. I recommended a few books on the subject for  https://shepherd.com/best-books/oxford-and-where-town-meets-gown In Sculpting the Elephant,

18 06, 2024

Speaking Truth to Power is still Perilous.

By |June 18th, 2024|Categories: Biography, China, Art & History, History, India, Kenya, Madras Courier, Novels and short stories|0 Comments

https://madrascourier.com/opinion/writing-the-womans-life The online Indian newspaper, The Madras Courier has published an essay by Lupamudra Banerjee. It is a powerful and deeply personal invocation of women writers who wanted to break the chains. The timing of this feature is inspired by

1 06, 2024

Have you discovered Shepherd.com? It’s a research tool and an asset for authors.

By |June 1st, 2024|Categories: Art, Ashoka, Biography, Buddhism, China, Art & History, History, India, Lost History, Mixed relationships, Novels and short stories, Oxford, Shepherd.com|0 Comments

Shepherd.com has only been established for three years but is already getting good traffic. I'm one of 9,000 authors who have shared five of our favorite books around a topic dear to our hearts. Below are the links to my entries. 

12 06, 2023

Mixed Up Love according to Claret Press & why it matters.

By |June 12th, 2023|Categories: Antiques, Art, Biography, History, India, Mixed relationships, Novels and short stories, Oxford|0 Comments

Claret Press’s blog on mixed relationships mentions some of my experiences. https://www.claretpress.com/single-post/mixed-up-love I wrote a piece on the subject for the Madras Courier. https://madrascourier.com/.../on-mixed-race-relationships/ 150,000 people, mostly of Indian ancestry, read it. (The editor seems to know how to work