my life, my stories

" Chess problems demand from their composer, the same virtues that characterize all worthwhile art:originality, invention, conciseness, harmony, complexity, and splendid insincerity." -Vladimir Nabokov . During my childhood, chess was a game you played, when there was no electricity, so no television, you had already played scrabble and the other board games, and still had time to kill. Or on long train journeys.. In my youth, card games were more interesting, and chess was relegated to a thing of my past. It's only as an adult, now that I have seen the workings of the world that I appreciate the sheer genius of a game of chess. Chess teaches you the basic rule of life.. way before darwin coined it.. survival of the fittest.. every one, and every thing must be sacrificed , to keep the king alive. Now, every time I read in the news paper , that a certain politician had to quit his party, or a certain managing director or president of a company had to resign from his posi...

There is a cliched Miss India question " How will u explain the colour red to a blind man?", relatively simple question I would say , considering I am training to be an eye surgeon.. now what they really should be asking is " How do you explain butter garlic prawns and reshmi kabab to a vegetarian?" Now there is a googly question. Its funny how all the vocabulary, in all the languages one knows just falls short, in just trying to describe even the simplest of dishes. How do you even begin to try and explain rasmalai to a foreigner..' soft cottage cheese ,in a delectable creamy sauce flavoured with saffron, and garnished with crushed pistachio' just doesn't seem to do justice. Food! Good food!! All my gesturing, facial expressions, multiple adjectives cannot describe the flavour, the texture, the taste, the experience of having cremaux chocolate fudge cookies, or ma's Christmas plum cake...it's almost like being handicapped. It's like no...