MC Masala, a column by Sumana Harihareswara
This is the archive of my newspaper column.
Between April 2005 and August 2007, I wrote a weekly column called "MC Masala" for the "Inside Bay Area" section of several papers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Oakland Tribune. My work circulated to about a million people, I'm told. You can now read these stories below.
(I'm a better writer now but some of the columns still stand up okay.)
You can also see and reuse the code I wrote to make this site.
- Why doesn't life come with a handbook?, Thursday, 07 April 2005
- An Indian by any other name is still American, Thursday, 14 April 2005
- Get your Bollywood entertainment fix every Saturday morning, Thursday, 21 April 2005
- Immigrants' daughter moves from apathy to ambition, Thursday, 28 April 2005
- Diversity's more than dances and dumplings, Thursday, 05 May 2005
- Mulling the uses — and abuses — of fashion, Thursday, 12 May 2005
- Jesus and Krishna make the 9-to-5 bearable, Thursday, 19 May 2005
- Books from South Asian authors are fascinating reading, Thursday, 26 May 2005
- How to avoid being a jerk on buses and BART, Thursday, 02 June 2005
- The best Indian restaurant? Mom's kitchen, Thursday, 09 June 2005
- When it comes to short hair, hairdressers just aren't cutting it, Friday, 17 June 2005
- S.F. comics sate columnist's stand-up comedy needs, Thursday, 23 June 2005
- Vik's restaurant offers a familiar taste of home, Thursday, 30 June 2005
- I have a bone to pick and it's not funny, Thursday, 07 July 2005
- It's a question of giving life, Thursday, 14 July 2005
- Interfaith dialogue runs aground, Thursday, 21 July 2005
- Stories of compassion among strangers, Thursday, 28 July 2005
- Trying to be hostess with most-ess tiresome, Thursday, 04 August 2005
- Late to parties and early to rise, Thursday, 11 August 2005
- Oppressors, exes leave memories behind, Thursday, 18 August 2005
- Empowerment scrams in two shakes of a mouse's tail, Thursday, 25 August 2005
- The more classics evolve, the more they stay classic, Thursday, 01 September 2005
- We're all feeling a little supererogatory these days, Saturday, 10 September 2005
- We're no longer going where we've gone before, Sunday, 25 September 2005
- Indian celebs center stage at awards show, Tuesday, 27 September 2005
- Memories of fellowship a talisman for peace, Saturday, 01 October 2005
- Love of limelight helps teacher illuminate, Sunday, 09 October 2005
- I didn't exactly lie; well not usually, Sunday, 16 October 2005
- Losing clutter can calm the mind, Saturday, 22 October 2005
- First car wreck stops young driver in her tracks, Sunday, 30 October 2005
- To purchase is to receive — a receipt, Sunday, 06 November 2005
- The challenge is in the bones, Friday, 11 November 2005
- Mourning the Russia that liberated me, Saturday, 19 November 2005
- Taking my shots in game of life, Saturday, 26 November 2005
- Their eyes are closed but their minds are open, Sunday, 04 December 2005
- Life's a game, so why don't we all just play along?, Saturday, 10 December 2005
- Wishing for different moral to story, Saturday, 17 December 2005
- She was celebrating Christmas last summer, Saturday, 24 December 2005
- When job interviews can become an intimate business, Sunday, 01 January 2006
- She leaves her socks in San Francisco, Saturday, 07 January 2006
- Packing up and leaving town a moving experience, Saturday, 14 January 2006
- Living situations offer lots more than roofs over our heads, Friday, 20 January 2006
- Sometimes it's a cold, cold, cold, cold world, Friday, 27 January 2006
- The battle of the Oreos is a small one in a big city, Monday, 06 February 2006
- A quick lesson on winning friends and questioning your ethics, Sunday, 12 February 2006
- Try to be trite and you'll likely come up with the best answer, Saturday, 18 February 2006
- Just because it's mainstream doesn't mean it sucks, Saturday, 25 February 2006
- Sobering experiences teach you when you can drink, Sunday, 12 March 2006
- Prostitye, but I really just speak English, Monday, 13 March 2006
- Quick, somebody bring the WD-40 to loosen my tongue, Saturday, 18 March 2006
- Information overload: Shading the truth is all geek to me, Sunday, 26 March 2006
- Indian lit: Leaping over tall tales in a single bound, Sunday, 02 April 2006
- Riding New York subway takes years of training, Sunday, 09 April 2006
- Spaghetti, sake strike balance on cosmic dinner check, Sunday, 16 April 2006
- In any language, beauty's in the eye of the schemer, Sunday, 23 April 2006
- How I accepted love without sense, Sunday, 30 April 2006
- It's difficult to not let mistakes drive you buggy, Saturday, 06 May 2006
- Take my advice — I'm not using it, Sunday, 14 May 2006
- How much counterintuitive advice do you get?, Sunday, 14 May 2006
- This man's 'House' is really a fortress blocking out humanity, Sunday, 21 May 2006
- Good things should come to all who wait, Sunday, 28 May 2006
- Good things should come to all those who wait, Tuesday, 30 May 2006
- Mourning the passing of something worthwhile, Sunday, 04 June 2006
- Home is wherever you choose to say you're from, Sunday, 11 June 2006
- Some get initiative, some get property, some are just It, Sunday, 18 June 2006
- What happens if your black cat walks under a ladder?, Sunday, 25 June 2006
- Religion isn't something in which one dabbles, Sunday, 02 July 2006
- Nostalgia doesn't always leave pleasant aftertaste, Sunday, 09 July 2006
- Connecting with the world, one goal at a time, Sunday, 23 July 2006
- Real-world rules can be applied to real-life, Sunday, 30 July 2006
- Finding happiness in the little moments of life, Saturday, 12 August 2006
- Who's that short-haired chick sitting alone?, Tuesday, 15 August 2006
- Immigrants, natives need to keep discovering America, Sunday, 20 August 2006
- Scars don't have to come from something traumatic, Sunday, 27 August 2006
- Start spreadin' the quick-and-dirty engineering, Sunday, 03 September 2006
- Surprise should be pleasant, not an attack, Sunday, 10 September 2006
- Just as with plants, it takes time to cultivate neighbors, Sunday, 17 September 2006
- Deliberate practice can conquer life, ego, Sunday, 08 October 2006
- Then perhaps annoyance is the father of invention, Sunday, 15 October 2006
- Even minus the blazing colors, fall is vivid in the Bay Area, Sunday, 22 October 2006
- Mea culpa — diabetes is no laughing matter, Sunday, 29 October 2006
- Politics: Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there, Sunday, 05 November 2006
- Don't you know everyone wants to laugh, Sunday, 12 November 2006
- In my dating life nerd-vana, love was all geek to me, Sunday, 19 November 2006
- Strip down and enjoy a good funny page or graphic novel, Sunday, 03 December 2006
- Make someone's Christmas merry with an offbeat gift, Sunday, 10 December 2006
- The 'Daily' grind: Sharing Jon on the sidewalks of N.Y., Sunday, 17 December 2006
- Don't sweat the small talk — remember, it's all small talk, Sunday, 24 December 2006
- Bonding with my sister brings back a lot of great memories, Sunday, 31 December 2006
- Perhaps Dali's melting clocks began as Popsicles, Sunday, 07 January 2007
- We can't go back to the salad days of Aaron Sorkin, Sunday, 14 January 2007
- I'd fight tooth and nail to get a sound comfort sleep again, Sunday, 21 January 2007
- 'Customer service and karma department, God speaking', Sunday, 28 January 2007
- Mantra: 'You're right, you're right, you're right, you're right', Sunday, 04 February 2007
- Finding maximum pleasure amid minimalist trappings, Sunday, 11 February 2007
- Blinder sided: What we don't know could fill a book, Sunday, 25 February 2007
- Just what the doctor ordered: More perspective in our lives, Sunday, 04 March 2007
- Vegging out: You can't 'beet' meatless Bay Area cooking, Sunday, 11 March 2007
- I am the very model of a modern major body image crisis, Sunday, 18 March 2007
- Vice, vice, baby: Legalize the sin or punish the sinner?, Sunday, 25 March 2007
- Weather extremes make the middle a happy place, Sunday, 08 April 2007
- No present or future, only past stuck on repeat, Sunday, 15 April 2007
- No present, no future, only the past stuck on repeat, Sunday, 15 April 2007
- As I let down my hair, am I letting down my identity?, Sunday, 22 April 2007
- Raisins are ugly, wrinkled and so full of meaning, Sunday, 06 May 2007
- Trouble's brewing if office rituals have ground you down, Sunday, 20 May 2007
- Bam! We can't resist (sob!) Batman's regret and grief, Sunday, 27 May 2007
- Mama loves Nandinibabsmamba; sister loves connection, Sunday, 03 June 2007
- Long as spam = / scam, I can find a way to appreciate it, Sunday, 10 June 2007
- Oh, Kannada: Even Gandhi was left speaking in tongues, Sunday, 17 June 2007
- I'm dropping out from the 'MU' school of minimalism, Sunday, 24 June 2007
- The moon shines bright on my old 'Kentucky coffee', Friday, 29 June 2007
- Presto, it's pesto! Just emptying the fridge can be magic, Saturday, 07 July 2007
- Stuck 'out in the middle' of Maldroid and maladroit, Saturday, 14 July 2007
- 'Runway' leaves reality show narcissism on the tarmac, Sunday, 22 July 2007
- Fear, loathing and window-seat diplomacy on BART, Sunday, 29 July 2007
- Up WWOOFin' with the flocks at the crack of dawn, Sunday, 05 August 2007
- Radishes and life lessons harvested down on the farm, Saturday, 11 August 2007
- Onward and upward: In search of punk-rock perseverance, Sunday, 19 August 2007