In 'Food of Love' I invent a word ‘Communessence ‘. It means when we eat together we come together. It is inspired by the Sikh practice of 'langar' which in Punjabi means 'kitchen'. Gurdwaras have kitchens, which serve meals to
Shakespeare and Donne created thousands of words between them - its a British trait that we can be proud of. Let's find new words for our time . This government’s war on woke includes opposing the ‘decolonisation’ of museums, history
Why the world should know about Ashoka . This blog is intended for those in the West, who know nothing about the man who founded the religion we know as Buddhism, established the world’s first international university, disapproved of
I have no idea who Mimi Ray is but I LOVE her review of Sculpting the Elephant on Goodreads. "How to set oneself free - sculpt the elephant! On the surface a love story set in both Oxford & India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-VK2sDZCQw Please watch this. Shashi Tharoor is absolutely right - the facts of the of empire need to be known. When I wrote Sculpting the Elephant set in Oxford and India , I wanted the historical subplot to be honest
Reflections on Multi Culturalism In the Madras Courier Anurag Mishra and Paras Ratna posed the question, ‘To what extent can a society accommodate multiculturalism?’ As someone who risked my own future and that of my future children by marrying someone
My last visit to India in 2018 was not to the sights of Mughal India, unlike in the pic above taken in 1992, but to a much more ANCIENT India. I was researching for the subplot of Sculpting the Elephant
When I read about Ashoka the 3rd century BC ruler of much of India, my curiosity was aroused. Ashoka began as a warlord but felt remorse at the waste of life on the battlefield. He invited followers of the Buddha