deepanjana
deepanjana
author & journalist
 
 

Hello hello!

this the online home of author and journalist
Deepanjana Pal

 
 
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Blog
The Trials and Tribulations of Akshay Kumar
The Trials and Tribulations of Akshay Kumar

It’s hard out there for an International Khiladi.

A culture of politics
A culture of politics

If your time to you is worth savin', then you better start swimmin'. Or you'll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin'.

Ping Pong and Pico Iyer
Ping Pong and Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer has a new book, and it’s a thing of melancholy and ping pong.

Cutty Snark: Made in Heaven
Cutty Snark: Made in Heaven

In which I, as usual, find myself growling angrily about something that everyone seems to love.

Fury, Captain Marvel, desi boys and more
Fury, Captain Marvel, desi boys and more

Captain Marvel isn’t the best film of Marvel’s franchise, but it might well be the most thoughtfully-written script of the Avengers narrative.

An Indiscreet Love for Romance
An Indiscreet Love for Romance

When a romantic comedy made in 2019 makes you remember a romantic comedy from 1958 for its boldness, it’s time for a (long) post.

Cutty Snark: Ek Ladki Ko...Four More Shots Please
Cutty Snark: Ek Ladki Ko...Four More Shots Please

From lesbians being overshadowed by men to obsessed women in Mumbai, reel life is tough on the ladies.

Connecting Threads at Bhau Daji Lad Museum
Connecting Threads at Bhau Daji Lad Museum

Somehow, this ended up being 3,000-odd words. It was just supposed to be a quick overview. On the plus side, contains pictures.

Cutty Snark: "That Little Snake"
Cutty Snark: "That Little Snake"

Simryn Gill’s Soft Tissue, Atul Dodiya’s Seven Minutes of Blackmail and the imagination.

Mary Poppins Returns/ Roma: A Tale of Two Nannies
Mary Poppins Returns/ Roma: A Tale of Two Nannies

Two films, two nannies, one critic. Let the analysis begin.

 

snapshots

There are those who will tell you that they can’t accept the Indian election results that have given the Right-wing a second term with a thumping majority. Me, I have literally broken out in a rash. Clearly, I am allergic to fascist Hindutva. Fun times ahead.
Stand in the shadow and hope to see the light.
Land and sea. #windowseatchronicles
One minute, there’s just haze and twilight. And then you look closer and there it is. The barely-visible outline of a rising moon, delicate as the most carefully-spun veil.
So many moments of food magic during the collaboration dinner at @masquerestaurant tonight. Like the savoury wafer with mangoes-done-three-ways and shrimp paste, accompanied by an aam-panna inspired broth that is a perfect summer soup. Or the variation on ceviche with barramundi and coconut vinegar whose flavours swirl like a miniature sea in your mouth. Or the delicious shiver that you feel with the first spoonful of the dessert made of pineapple granita, fresh fruit and coconut cream. Bonus: eating off @curatorsofclay tableware.
Dinner with @sonamsavlani is a photogenic affair.
 

short stories

"The satiny material of her burkha shone where it caught the sunlight. It stretched, dipped, billowed and moulded against her body because of the wind. The magnifying glass inched down her form, past the arc of her covered head, along the fluid lines of wind-puffed material. Hadpude didn’t blink. He just looked. His eyes travelled from head to toe, from photo to photo."

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