Some years ago I went on a trip to a southern district of Tamil Nadu with research in mind. At least that was what I told anyone who wanted to know why I was going there.

What I found was a different kind of definition for freedom.

At a little town by the ocean, where the waves could rise as high as the houses when the winds churned the waters, it seemed nothing could hold anyone back. The sea was your backyard and if anyone crowded in on you, the sea would help you flee.

But nothing had prepared me for what that little seaside town also showed me. A glimpse of a community caught in a time warp whose rules of purdah were almost medieval.

“What do you do with your time?” I asked one of the girls I met there.

Getting away from Mangalore after the series of turmoil-ridden events that the city faced was imperative. Every trotter worth his salt wants to get away from the city and shed the dubious “reputation” that Mangaloreans acquired during the attacks on the Pub, the MLA’s daughter and the suicide of a high school girl followed by the criminal case against the Union minister Renuka Choudhury for allegedly calling Mangaloreans “Talibans”. Being fed up with the same coastal terrain, I packed my family into my small car and headed towards more pleasant climes. A perfect getaway from Mangalore’s dust and din created by these fringe groups.

Seoul, South Korea: It is very useful to come to Asia to be reminded about America’s standing in the world these days. For all the talk in recent years about America’s inevitable decline, all eyes are not now on Tokyo, Beijing, Brussels or Moscow — nor on any other pretenders to the world heavyweight crown. All eyes are on Washington to pull the world out of its economic tailspin. At no time in the last 50 years have we ever felt weaker, and at no time in the last 50 years has the world ever seen us as more important.

The state government’s new security council is pointless in its current form

You praise the firm restraint with which they write. I am with you there, of course;/ They use the snaffle and the bit all right, but where’s the bloody horse?”

Roy Campbell’s remarks on some South African novelists accurately describe the true character of the state government’s security council which the government of Maharashtra set up on December 2, 2008. It was a poor response to the terror attacks of 26/11 and was designed to allay public disquiet about the government’s management of the police force.

Aishwarya Nair has a sense of humour and a pleasant disposition that relieves you of the pressure of how to present yourself when meeting with the youngest generation of the Nair clan, the family behind the Leela chain of hotels.

Trust Facebook to make the connection, something that brings the formality quotient down a good couple of notches. I was slated to be in Mumbai on wine work and plans for dinner were made.

Now I hate doing two things. I absolutely detest writing about the food I am served at any event, no matter how good it is. Worse still to wax eloquent about the company from such evenings.

The modern Indian youth, especially in urban areas in India is credited with being a product of the knowledge age with information on every subject at their finger tips. They are aware, clever and focused. Most of all, they are liberated and sexually far more adventurous than previous generations.