Pallavi Aiyar @pallaviaiyar Twitter profile

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Pallavi Aiyar

2 years

Here it is! The ultimate insider’s guide to #Tokyo ! Tokyo’s duality is inescapable. The city belongs to both the robots and the Gods; to the otakus as much as to the salarymen; and to the cicadas as much as the shinkansen

Moneycontrol

@moneycontrolcom

2 years

#MCWeekendReads ⚡ "For Japanese food, throw away the guidebooks and find the closest dive in your neighbourhood... choose non-descript places with little fanfare around them, for the best food." Read @pallaviaiyar 's guide to #Tokyo 👇🏻 #MCTravelFeatures

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

So I grew up in the 80s with this photo of my celebrity mom, Gitanjali Aiyar, in magazines and on billboards! It was for a “colour” TV…. 😊

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Very telling how in India girls don’t get married; they get “married off.”

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

As an Indian it’s mind boggling to see all the orange trees in Seville, lining the roads and public squares with all their fruit intact, like decoration. An indecency of plenty. Imagine that in an Indian city.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

One week of chemo-in, a friend brought me hajmola...and after one goli I am just crying with relief and happiness. The unrelenting nausea has lifted. Who knew? #hajmolaForChemo

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Almost three months since end of chemo. Two weeks since breast reconstruction. #cancerrecovery

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

"The tragedy of religious fundamentalists & hypernationalists is that instead of spending time trying to do mathematics, philosophy, literature or science, they spend their time trying to show that 5000 years ago their ancestors did mathematics, philosophy, literature & science."

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

The cancer “journey” is like a triathalon, with diagnosis, surgery and chemo being the three challenges. I’m half way through the third part - swimming maybe, the cycling and running behind me. I’m definitely getting a second wind and building endurance #ironman

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

I often judge how much I like somewhere by whether women loiter in public spaces. One of the best things about Madrid is the abundance of white haired older women hanging out in cafes with friends, laughing and shooting the breeze.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

In good days I give cancer the finger with #chemofashion 🤗

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

"I've got some white hair too," announced my seven year old this morning. "Not as many as you, of course," he hastened to add. "Because I've been driving you crazy for 7 years, but my brother's only been driving me crazy for 2, maybe 3 years."

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

My son reading my original copy of #CityofDjinns . He’s been off reading for the last year, claiming YouTube was superior to books. So this makes me mucho happy 🤗 @DalrympleWill

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

She’s gone. 29 January 1947 - 7 June 2023 With profound grief we announce the passing of Gitanjali Aiyar. You inspired a generation. Your elegance was legendary. Your warmth, empathy and sweetness touched every one who knew you. …

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

This cancer survivor who lost her mom shares a key life lesson on grief and joy

She lost her mom and survived cancer all in the span of one year. Learning to grieve well is as important a life lesson as finding happiness

www.mid-day.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Shout out for the #GlobalJigsaw from the Tharoor ( @ShashiTharoor ) himself. "The writer Pallavi Aiyar, who runs an amusing and always diverting blog..." 🤗

43 English words that originate from India

It’s a tribute to the absorptive capacity of English that there are estimated to be as many as 1,000 words of Indian origin

www.khaleejtimes.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

@kushalgaddhyan @timesofindia There are enough Indians treated with worse contempt in their own country.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Super-duper-uber excited to share the cover of my new book on Japan, ORIENTING: An Indian in Japan. It will be released late next month & be available for preorder on Amazon in a few days. I'll share the link soon.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Given all the scarves and wigs , there is something very theatrical about sartorial life with #chemo

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

India is primarily visual: all colours & sights. China is olfactory: malodorous hutong bathrooms, restaurants soaked in vinegar, plumes of burning incense emanating from Buddhist temples. In Japan, its sound, and its absence, that is most striking – the susurration of cicadas 1/2

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

One year anniversary #orienting #Japan

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

My profile of Japan’s new Prime Minister in today’s The Hindu:

Yoshihide Suga — the self-made Prime Minister

The new leader has worked for decades as a shadow power in Japan’s politics

www.thehindu.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

@appadappajappa The most important decision of your life is choosing the right parents!

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

Some exciting personal news. I've joined The Globalist, an online magazine & think tank as Deputy Editor. I'll probably be tapping many of you for pieces going ahead, as we try and make The Globalist more inclusive and diverse.

Meet Pallavi Aiyar - The Globalist

A lifelong globalist and globe-trotting journalist joins The Globalist as Deputy Editor-in-Chief and lays out her vision.

www.theglobalist.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

Why the India-Japan economic relationship remains underwhelming. My latest in today's The Hindu

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Last yr, I gave a Ted Talk titled “Two steps forward, one step back.” In the intervening yr, I've been diagnosed with cancer, lost my mother, lost my cat, lost my breast, had to give up various work opportunities as I went through 16 cycles of chemo.That’s many steps back. 1/2

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Perfectionist, Fun, Warm: Shammi Narang on DD News Presenter Gitanjali Aiyar

Gitanjali Aiyar – one of India's first English TV news presenters – passed away on 7 June. She was 71.

www.thequint.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Can we just ban the use of "civilized world" as a phrase? Please.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

9 years

My mother, Gitanjali Aiyar's, 1980s Marmite ad. I remember the picture being taken at our dining room table.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Since my own cancer diagnosis have been noticing just how common a trope cancer=tragedy is, in films, books, TV. When the reality of cancer= getting thru months of (v often) successful treatments more or less cheerfully, is absent. #Cancer

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

@aashudeshpande @AmbedkarCaravan @DumbbellsnDrama This is like when white people claim there is no racism.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

As an Indian it’s mind boggling to see all the orange trees in Seville with all their fruit intact, like decoration. Imagine that in an Indian city.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

The books have arrived! Get your copies of #Orienting : An Indian in Japan now 😊🇯🇵🇮🇳 #unboxing

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

8 years

The Obamas. In 1996. Reinstating belief in partnership.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

Not #betibachao but #betasikhao

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Today, even as the political climate in India has turned hostile to its own history, attempting to paint India’s Mughal heritage solely in terms of foreign invasions whose influence must be purged, its own museums stand testament against such a view.

India's Islamic-Hindu Christian art

The joyous greed of syncretism

pallaviaiyar.substack.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

What’s a book that if someone you just met said was their “favourite” ever, would nip any potential friendship in the bud. For me: The Alchemist #BookTwitter

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

Thank you for joining our army of words.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

@vaishnaroy Of course in rural areas, but i am talking about one of the biggest cities in Spain . It’s startling in an urban context.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

The croissant was originally created by the Austrians and shaped like a crescent in order to commemorate the victory against the Ottoman army in 1683. Ergo, in eating one you are apparently symbolically devouring Islam.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Are you window seat or aisle? I’m aisle, which I think has something to do with middle age.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

8 years

My new book, Choked, is available for desktop and mobile download: …/c34c08feaa9e49e3990a369a050d24bf

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

But through it there've also been scores of micro steps forward. Its painful to be human but also splendid. Through our grief our resilience is incandescent.And there's nothing like receiving the love of friends to build you up. Gratitude even in the midst of this annus horribils

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Secret to life? Contentment. Knowing when more is useless and you have enough.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Some good news to share 😊

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

On why the wide-eyed questions I get from Indians about other countries leave me with the impression that they believe themselves to be nationals of the New York Times, rather than India. @Openthemag #GlobalSutra

A View from the Elite Ghettos - Open The Magazine

THE JOB OF the Indian foreign correspondent is a lonely one. Over the last two decades I have reported from Beijing, Brussels, Jakarta and Tokyo. In the latter three cities, I was the only Indian...

openthemagazine.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Wow! India so proud of its heritage that its "lost" 50 centrally protected monuments.

50 Centrally Protected Monuments Untraceable, 11 in UP | NewsClick

The missing monuments include Barakhamba Cemetery in Delhi, two monuments in Haryana and 11 in Uttar Pradesh, which is the highest.

www.newsclick.in

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Have truly come to believe that at least one major reason men are less "stressed/anxious" than women, and somehow seem to have more time to be productive is - their hair. Short hair is a game-changer regarding productivity. Being bald even more so

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

@sandipanthedeb If older generations had had more therapy they (and the world) would be better off.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Just bought these because this word needs to be in the dictionary

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

I choose to focus on microjoys rather than microaggressions.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

My latest in @Openthemag , #Globalsutra on the expulsion of Indian journalists from China and vice versa and why it all matters @ananthkrishnan

Last Man Reporting - Open The Magazine

WHEN I FIRST MOVED to China in 2002, there was one Indian journalist who worked for the government newswire, PTI, based in Beijing. At the time, India-China trade stood at $5 billion and there were...

openthemagazine.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Now that I have had cancer, anything I post on social media is received with a flood of hug emojis. Its cute. But just so that everyone knows - irony/humour/random observations etc remain cancer-free :-)

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

9 years

this masterpiece of Hindu art, much of it painted by Muslim artists, recalls a time when relations were less fraught

William Dalrymple

@DalrympleWill

9 years

William Dalrymple on India's living epic the Ramayana

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

With Rajnikanth fan club in Tokyo. These guys speak Tamil & have even imported an auto!

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Kingdom of the Sick, Breast cancer and me: by @pallaviaiyar

Kingdom of the Sick

Breast cancer and me

pallaviaiyar.substack.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Don’t sweat the small stuff, folks. After all, there is always music! 🤗

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

For India, China should remain the model to learn from when it comes to air pollution. There are no silver bullets. But air pollution is a man-made problem, with man-made solutions. It’s tough to fix, but far from impossible.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Our Indo-Spanish family is a khichdi which explains why we felt we had found our place in Goa. This choris-sized state is the embodiment of cultural chutney: Virgin Marys in sarees, chorizo bathed in Indian spices, Catholic Brahmins named Braganza: #Goa

My Family and Other Globalizers | Finding echoes in the cultural chutney of Goa

Goa, like the rest of India, has been adept at domesticating foreign influences and making them its own.

www.moneycontrol.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

This Saturday 6pm IST, with Anjum Hasan, @veenavenugopal and @anniezaidi . Moderated by @suhitkelkar . Do join to learn more about our army of words and #AThousandCranesForIndia .

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June.” - Dr. Seuss

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Can we please observe a moment’s silence to respect all the time the 👍🏼 emoticon has saved us over the years?

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

My son had taken up guitar. Slowly his fingers have toughened up with callouses as he practices. It feels like the middle stages of the long treatment I’m going through for breast cancer. Toughened up with callouses #breastcancer

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”–Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, June 1, 1921.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

in the summer, the noisy slurping of Ramen-eaters and the bizarre hush of the metro in rush hour. But Spain, is predominantly tactile. It’s all about besos and abrazos. Picking up slivers of jamon with the fingers. What’s your take on countries and the senses? 2/2

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

When my older son, was about 4 & driving me insane, I remember groaning “It can be dreadful being ur mom.” He'd immediately stopped & asked: “Really? Would you rather have been a pirate?” I’d laughed. But it got me thinking. What 1/3

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

My struggle, as a voluble Indian, to understand the comfort level of most Japanese with pauses. @IndianQuarterly

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

What a place of plenty is the family bed, heaped with cats and children, books by the side, where cuddles are the primary language, and kisses the punctuation. It sustains you, that bed. Through sickness too.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Having cancer is like being cast, willy nilly, in a genre play. It's almost impossible to refuse the role of brave survivor, doughty fighter or "poor thing." Every reaction, every emotion, every action feels prescripted. Originality is impossible. #CancerJourney #breastcancer

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

The thing that cheered me up most after the punch in the gut that my breast cancer was worse than initially diagnosed was that I had the outline of a new book. This is what its like to be a writer! Everything is plot.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

My latest on the Japan-India high speed rail project

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

I am condemned to literate culture. I never want to listen to podcasts..only read their transcripts.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

@amitvarma Thanks @amitvarma for this sprint across life, the universe and everything. Longest conversation I have ever done in a studio, but also one that was superbly dialogic…Amit doesn’t just question you, he helps you learn about yourself.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

The worst thing about having cancer is having cancer. But the best thing about it is the opportunity to experience the quotidian as profound. #cancerlessons

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

Our cranes are in @the_hindu . "Something rich and strange: Review of A Thousand Cranes for India: Reclaiming Plurality amid Hatred @saliltripathi @veenavenugopal @anniezaidi @MrSamratX @ranjithoskote @natashabadhwar @mehartweets

Review of ‘A Thousand Cranes for India: Reclaiming Plurality amid Hatred’

Using the crane as metaphor for solidarity in these fractured times, each of the pieces in this anthology quietly provokes thought

www.thehindu.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Supposed to be speaking at a session with @ShashiTharoor and another with @DalrympleWill next week at #JLFLondon . Applied for a visa at the end of April. And 6 weeks on, no info= I won’t make it . Also my passport is being held hostage. Disgusted by the UK (Thread) @SanjoyRoyTWA

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

The middle of a long illness is like treading still water. The turbulence of diagnosis has died down. You are no longer drowning in shock. And so, you take up residence in the Third Place, the one in between the Kingdoms of the Well and the Sick. #cancer

In between the Kingdoms of the Well and Sick

Travels in the Third Place

pallaviaiyar.substack.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

I understand the usually innocent sentiment behind the phrasing, but I beg people to stop telling me (or anyone really), to "stay blessed." Please.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

I think we all deserve a treat at the end of 2020, and I hope you'll agree that Jakarta Tails is a contender 🙂 Available at:

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

Japan's most celebrated Indian. The Indian in the Yasukuni Shrine

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Happy to have won first prize in the essay category open to faculty and staff at @IEuniversity .

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Look what’s at number one! Amazon India travel books list.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Demographic dividend without jobs, education, civic values, gender sensitivity, safe & clean public spaces, and hugely less ambient and aural pollution is a load of crap. A huge, undereducated, desperate pop fighting for ltd resources is nothing to celebrate. #india #population

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

In Japan even fallen leaves in a lake seem like art.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

This last year has left many of bereft. Here’s to filling the scars with gold. The wound is the place where the light enters you by: @pallaviaiyar

The wound is the place where the light enters you

On breaking and healing - (and on soliciting (cough) paid subscriptions)

pallaviaiyar.substack.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

7 years

"My page was too white, my ink was too thin, the day wouldn't write, what the night penciled in."

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. ..1/2

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

Accompanying a girlfriend to go shopping for clothes is a heart warming exercise in care, bonding and kindness. Do men get this?

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

4 years

Re Megan-Harry interview Indians must be really baffled about the uproar. Expressing concern about the skin colour of a child is like pass-the-salt chit chat in (almost) every Indian family.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

Breaking the news of my cancer diagnosis to my kids. Not something you ever want to have to do, but we don’t always get what we wish for. #cancer #parentingtips

My Family And Other Globalizers | Talking to the kids about cancer

What is the proper comportment to adopt when breaking the news of serious illness to one’s children?

www.moneycontrol.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

“With life as short as a half-taken breath, don’t plant anything but love.” Rumi

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

She’s gone. 29 January 1947 - 7 June 2023 With profound grief we announce the passing of Gitanjali Aiyar. You inspired a generation. Your elegance was legendary. Your warmth, empathy and sweetness touched every one who knew you.

My mother: the celebrity

The "good old days" of the 1980s

pallaviaiyar.substack.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

India highlights dark side of vegetarianism:

India highlights dark side of vegetarianism

Cow protection campaign by vigilante ideologues threatens safety of beef eaters

asia.nikkei.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

3 years

Being Indian in English, by @pallaviaiyar

Being Indian in English

In India, English is not just a language, it is a caste.

pallaviaiyar.substack.com

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

9 years

A Catholic Church in a Muslim majority area in north Sumatra built in style of Tamil Hindu temple. My piece:

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

1 year

We all live charmed lives, until we don’t.

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Pallavi Aiyar

@pallaviaiyar

2 years

So these arrived in Madrid, for an event. Seeing them all laid out like is a tad dazzling. Like realizing: so THIS is what I’ve been up to these last 15 years 😊📚 #smokeandmirrors #orienting #chinesewhiskers #jakartatails #babiesandbylines