They paved paradise and put up a parking lot / And a big yellow taxi took away my old man. Joni Mitchell. No one hails a taxi anymore. Shades of coming out of a cinema or concert hall, standing on the edge of a pavement and waving your hand frantically yelling ‘Taxi’ as another one …
Author Archives: sureshsubrahmanyan
Power breakfast with Fred the Fly
An allegory It has been widely rumoured that the two chief honchos who carry the enormous burden of running one of our country’s most important and prosperous states, let us dub them Number 1 and Number 2, have had differences to iron out and scores to settle. As a common citizen, I am not privy …
Am I boring you?
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I quite enjoy picking up a conversation with complete strangers. This could happen just about anywhere. Mind you, not every stranger you broach is likely to return the compliment, but you press on regardless. If your target, if that is the word I want, is reticent you …
Death of the Encyclopaedia Salesman
‘The only thing you’ve got in this world is what you can sell.’ Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman. A few decades ago, if you paid a visit to a home with a modicum of house pride, you would unfailingly have found in their bookshelves or ornate glass cupboards, an entire line of leather-bound volumes …
The Solomon Grundy State of Mind
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but every single day of the week, I get a feel-good message from somebody or the other pointing out helpfully that it will be the harbinger of great cheer. These lyrical messages are invariably embedded in some scenic or flowery imagery enhanced by some schmaltzy instrumental tune. I …
An ode to Prunella Scales aka Sybil Fawlty
‘Actors go into it because it gives us the chance to play people a great deal more interesting than we are, and to say things infinitely wittier and more intelligent than anything we could think of.’ Prunella Scales. Prunella Scales died last week at the ripe old age of 93. Those of you who may …
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Oscar Wilde gets his library card back
It is only when one has lost all things, that one knows that one possesses it. Oscar Wilde. Tucked away in an insignificant corner of my morning daily was the news that the legendary, if controversial Irish novelist, playwright and poet Oscar Wilde’s library card was reissued 130 years after being revoked over a gay …
What is your HbA1c?
Sugar / Oh, honey, honey / You are my candy girl / And you got me wanting you The Archies. I had no cause to worry about diabetes all these years. Never even entertained a passing thought about sugar, other than adding two heaped teaspoonfuls to my tea or coffee every morning or evening. That …
This Bird has flown
Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird passed away on September 22nd, widely mourned, at the ripe young age of 92 in his home town in Barnsley, Yorkshire. Peacefully in his sleep. Which is nothing less than the great man deserved. Now I can hear many youngsters, who follow cricket, reading this column, assuming youngsters read the newspapers (digitally …
The Prime Minister strikes Platinum
Caveat: Some of what you are about to read happened. Some of it did not, though it could so easily have. Either way, a pinch of salt would help garnish the offering. India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is celebrating his 75th birthday, his platinum jubilee, which came about on September 17. The present continuous tense …
Suresh's Corner 