Brinjal (‘kathari’ in Tamil) is a vegetable that is great tasting by itself or mixed in with other veggies or even meat in various cuisines. It finds a key place in ‘aviyal’ (a mixture of stewed veggies) and is also a sought-after side-dish of biryani. Brinjal preparations have a pride of place...
Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi is in the spotlight as he becomes the third generation politician in the family to become a minister in the State Cabinet. His ability to catch votes and keep the party united through organisational skills and good rapport with senior leaders will...
As human settlements in the Nilgiris have expanded over the years into wild habitats, leaving animals with no place to go, the incidence of human-animal conflicts in the region has increased. In the past five years, more than 40 people were killed in animal attacks in the Nilgiris district,...
“If one drinks a glass of neera in the morning instead of tea, etc., he should not need anything else for breakfast,” Gandhi once said. Yet, the health food, neera, is not freely available to the hordes of fitness and wellness enthusiasts around, simply because of some archaic government rules...
The wrongful death of young football talent Priya is bringing attention to other young women footballers like her. They too come from meagre means and have overcome the stranglehold of social mores to follow their passion. For these women from North Chennai, a metonym for squalor and poverty in...
This time around, from my attic tumbled out an old book which, re-read out of curiosity, took me to the world of political slugfests and rows of decades ago. The 52-page book Naan Kanda Periyar (The Periyar I saw) was published by Tamilagam way back in 1957. My attic (paran) is home to old...
Once consumed by people on the lowest rung of society to satiate hunger in times of food scarcity and drought, mushrooms now figure prominently on glossy menus of five-star hotels in the country. The transition of a mushroom’s character from proletariat to elite is quite amazing, as is its...
In what appears to be peace of sorts brokered by the BJP, leaders of the various AIADMK factions have stopped attacking each other after a meeting between former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Governor RN Ravi on November 23. But, the meeting could have been aimed at mending fences...
