The literal meaning of Bhuta in Tulu – my mother tongue and also the predominant language of South Kanara district in coastal Karnataka – is ghost. But the Bhutas of the ritual worship called Bhuta Kola that take place annually in ancestral homes across the region are not the restless spectres the word conjures up. They are divinities…deified […]
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All change is not growth,as all movement is not forward. ~Ellen Glasgow Little heed has been paid to the preservation of the traditional tile roofed structures of my once charming hometown in its race to ‘big-townhood’. Their distinctive profiles are fast being replaced by characterless concrete high-rises. And malls! What is it with Asians and […]
Read MoreThere is a stretch of land between the airport and Mangalore town that is so verdant and beautiful that it never fails to bring a lump to my throat. I get off at the bridge to inhale the fresh, earthy fragrance that I have missed so much. “Wouldn’t it be lovely to buy some land […]
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Some rather far fetched myths are ascribed to the reason why South Kanara – the province that Mangalore is a part of – adopted the matriarchal system of inheritance as early as 10 AD. (You can read a rather sketchy and badly written version here.) This was a very progressive law for the time and continues to this day, […]
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If you have read my ‘about’ page, you will be familiar with the excerpt “The Importance of Elsewhere” by Paul Theroux. That about describes how I felt growing up in the small port town of Mangalore. It felt…small and restrictive. I rued the lack of opportunity. My ruling obsession was to get out, to experience a ‘better’ more […]
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The Urge To Wander 