Jul24

Namaste, mate!

Not long ago, English speaking classes sprouted up all over urban and small-town India. Many promised to teach an impeccable RP or an easy Southern drawl. Others peddled insights into the Western mind, presenting Euro-American culture (cinema, literature, slang, gastronomy, etc.) in encapsulated, easy to assimilate form. The boom still continues. A Canadian […]

Jun13

Them Patels is loaded, innit?

If you wanted to burgle posh pads in London, where would you go? The old English money is in Chelsea, Mayfair and Knightsbridge. The new Russian money is probably in Hampstead. Houses in these neighbourhoods would yield a rich haul to any enterprising thief. But Bonhams and Christie’s would ask rather uncomfortable questions on the […]