We’ve been having strange weather in Bombay the last two weeks. It’s blazing hot, dry heat during the day – 36 degrees and above (yesterday it was nearly 40 degrees and it feels like 43 degrees today) – but night temps have been as much as 20 degrees lower. Read more

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself explaining to a friend how I buy books.

An explanation was required since I was talking about titles and authors he had never heard of, that I hadn’t heard of either before I bought the books. So how did I hear about these books in the first place, and what made me buy them, he asked. Read more

After WEEKS of waiting for a monsoon that appeared to be hanging out in other places instead of Bombay where it was meant (according to various reports, the monsoon was in a: Kerala, b: Amsterdam, c: Edinburgh, d: North East India), it finally arrived at 4.31 am this morning. Read more

As a journalist, there are two kinds of contacts I need (personal contacts are a whole different thing). The first is people I’m likely to tap often for information and insights because of their expertise in the subjects I follow, and these are my lifeline. Read more

Worry not about this pompous-sounding headline. I’m not saying a THING about retail FDI, the Lokpal Bill or even the slap on Sharad Pawar’s face. Read more

I’ve just finished a book called Calcutta Exile by Bunny Suraiya (you’ve met her often in Jug Suraiya’s columns). It’s about a family of Calcutta Anglo-Indians and is set 12 years after Independence, i.e. in 1959. Read more

Wednesday was the hottest March day in Bombay since 1956 – over 41 degrees. Read more

Are you fascinated by logistics? I am. Very fascinated. Especially the logistics of mass transport. Read more

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I were rich. By which I mean seriously rich. So rich that money would be completely meaningless to me, I would never have to think about it at all. Read more

Last night, I used my quilt again.*

Hooray!

That’s because it rained for the last two days, and the temperature has come down considerably. Read more