Flux of Time

My story on Singapore in today's Sunday Herald The other Orient Colonial Singapore With Singapore celebrating its National Day recently, Savitha Karthik tries tounderstand the city-state’s colonial heritage, goes on a World War II trail and comes back feeling enriched... The Universal Studios, Sentosa’s water wonders, the Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion, the Jurong Bird Park, Gardens by the Bay, add or subtract a few more and a trip to Singapore is quite over. Oh, and yes, I forgot the Changi Airport! But, if you are the type who wants to get a better sense of a city, understand its people, culture and heritage, you will walk. Stop. And stare. Like we gazed at the wonderful colonial structures and read aloud street names. The names unravel a story... Fullerton Road, Havelock Road, Albert Street, Church Street, Victoria Road, Stamford Road... the story of Singapore’s British past. Much like India, you can’t miss the stamp of the British Raj.  In fact, the story of modern-day S...

It's cold, gloomy and drizzling in Bangalore. Reminds me of a holiday in Kodagu I took last year. The piece I wrote for Deccan Herald is here. The memory of that bella kaapi is fresh in my mind:) In the lap of nature Savitha Karthik, Jan 27, 2013 Coorg’s bounty Any description of Kodagu is in danger of turning into a cliché; but the endless rows of coffee plantations, the crisp mountain air, the clear blue skies...can all mean just one thing, that the place is indeed a slice of heaven. There can’t be a truer cliché than that. After a five-hour drive, I find myself at the entrance of Madikeri’s Vivanta by Taj, and nothing prepares me for what I am about to experience. Set at an altitude of 4,000 feet, the hotel lobby takes my breath away. I can see the rainforest in the distance, the grasslands dancing in the breeze, as I sip bella kaapi, coffee with a generous helping of jaggery. All about birds Rejuvenated, I am all set to explore the property, which is set across 180 ...

Re-plug of an article I wrote five years back ahead of Independence Day. On Vidurashwatha , which is known as the Jallianwalah Bagh of Karnataka. Vidurashwatha is actually very close to my hometown and the temple there is a much-visited one by my family. Of lives lost under the peepal  FREEDOM STRUGGLE Vidurashwatha is known as the Jallianwala Bagh of the south. At least nine people died in the summer of 1938, when British authorities fired indiscriminately at a fair held there, writes Savitha Karthik If the giant peepal trees here were to tell a story, what would that be? That of the Mahabharata character Vidura coming here to plant a sapling of ashwatha, or the ficus religiosa, in botanical terminology? That of the holy peepal being worshipped by generations here, along with hundreds of idols of the snake god installed by believers? Or would the peepal trees choose to tell another tale? Of nine brave souls who fell victim to an oppressor’s guns, right unde...

  See the symmetry. Little India adds that dash of spice to Singapore, but that too in a structured, organised manner. Somehow, these endless rows of roofs symbolize Singapore to me. 

Humayun Mahal Have lived in Chennai for about a year and have made several visits to the city, but didn't know a thing about this beautiful structure called the Chepauk Palace. Only came to know about it after reading this news item  Another interesting link below: http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2022%20No%2022/index.html

This is a travelogue I wrote last year after a visit to Chikmagalur-Belur-Halebeedu. It has since been published in The New Indian Express It is to coffee land, Chikmagalur, that we finally head to, after much deliberation. The idea is to take long walks in the coffee plantations, breathe the fresh spice-scented air, and unwind. Far away from the Internet noise that everyday life has come to mean for us ‘city types’. So, we land up at a homestay, a 13-km drive from the heart of Karnataka’s Chikmagalur town, also the district headquarters. While we manage to take a stroll or two in the coffee plantations, the constant rain means no trekking, and no outdoor activities. No signal on the phone, no signal on the iPad – leave us tearing our hair out wondering what to do, unused as we are to the silence and the sound of constant rain. It is then that the manager at the homestay comes up with the idea of  Belur - Halebeedu . Why not, we say. The husband and I both vag...

The permanence of things, or the impermanence of things, whichever way you look at it. We shot this during a visit to Hampi several years ago. Hampi was once the seat of the mighty Vijayanagar Empire. The fabled city where gold and precious stones were sold on the streets. The Empire is now dead and gone, while the structures, symbols of the glorious architecture of the 14th century, still remain.