All about this and that
Why do so many Indian languages say “this” and “that” with words that sound almost the same? Tamil has “inga” […]
All about this and that Read Post »
language
culture Uncategorized
How culture shapes our definition of trauma
Every time I try to excavate my childhood memories, especially through a cultural lens, I return to one recurring personal
How culture shapes our definition of trauma Read Post »
indian music tamil
When your playlist gives you away: Kalki’s 1930s/40s Tamil-style mood coding
I’m reading Kalki Selected Short Stories, translated from Tamil by Gowri Ramnarayan. Highly recommend. The collection is full of period
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A simple guide to the Venkateswara Suprabhatam “playlist”
Of late, I’ve been hearing MS Subbulakshmi’s Venkateswara Suprabhatam every morning. After a few days, I started catching the small
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Tamil Diglossia
Tamil’s diglossia is so extreme that native speakers end up learning their own language in school the way others learn
Why does the Tamil News feel like a foreign film without subtitles (to me)?
I grew up speaking Tamil, yet to this day I can’t make head or tail of the Tamil news on
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movies
When Hollywood accidentally wrote an Upanishad: The Matrix, Vedanta, and a li’l karmic irony
We spent years accusing Hindi movies of copying Hollywood—everything from Anu Malik’s musical inspirations to entire plotlines being imported wholesale
indian music
A friendly guide to Gamakas: a simple, no‑jargon companion to understanding Carnatic Note Movement
If you’ve ever wondered how Carnatic singers manage to make a single note feel alive, bending, sliding, wobbling, and moving
indian music
The Carnatic wobble in the Jana Gana Mana anthem
We sang the Jana Gana Mana every morning in school. Some students sang with full gusto. Some mumbled. Some moved
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