What Sachit Thinks

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Showing posts from August, 2011

Why do Indians honk so much?

Why Do We Honk So Much? An Indian Obsession With the Horn Why Do We Honk So Much? I don’t have the first clue why we do it, but it is indeed a unique phenomenon. Maybe we think honking is our way of asserting the ‘right of way’, but I suspect there is something far more revealing behind it. The Airport Incident What really took the cake was an incident at the Delhi airport. The airplane had just reached its apron parking position, and we were being ferried to the terminal in a bus. The bus driver, however, was losing patience. An aircraft was crossing in front of us — slowly, deliberately, doing exactly what aircraft are meant to do. There was no traffic signal to wait for, no confusion about right of way. And yet, the driver began honking. At an airplane. Honking as Impatience, Not Communication That moment summed it all up. The horn was not being used as a warning. It was not a request. It was simply an expression of impatience —...

What is too much cricket?

I wish I had written this just after the World Cup. The mind was in a happier frame of mind then. Oh how have the mighty fallen! The downfall has been as stunning as the rise. The analysis and dissection comes from any and every body. The one common thing I hear is there's too much cricket Indians play, and largely attributed to IPL. Is that the case? I'm still not sure about that one. If you look carefully at every current Test player, each has got a fair amount of rest between the IPL and the England series. Many skipped the West Indies tour, just to get themselves ready and fit. In my view, they took too much rest! I think cricket, like any other sport or skill, requires constant practice. If you're out for a period of time, rustiness sets in. Combine that with bad form and injury, matters only get worse. So it would have helped if players had not opted out of the WI tour. As an aside, I was in the US last month and was taken to a baseball game. While understa...

Sachit Murthy — Writing on Cinema, Cricket, Travel, and Life in India

This blog brings together essays, reviews, and observations on cinema, sport, travel, and everyday life in India. It moves between detailed writing on Indian and world cinema, reflections on cricket as culture and memory, travel notes from cities and small towns, and personal pieces shaped by living and working in contemporary India. Film writing on the blog ranges from close readings of classic and modern films to broader reflections on performance, narrative, and form. Cricket appears not as statistics or news, but as lived experience — a shared language of time, obsession, and belonging. Travel pieces pay attention to place, atmosphere, and the small details that define movement and return. Underlying these varied subjects is a consistent interest in observation: how people speak, perform, remember, and negotiate their inner and public lives. The author’s background as a stage and screen actor, writer, and voice artist informs the attention to rhythm, silence, and point of view across the writing. The blog is intended for readers who enjoy reflective, unhurried writing — pieces that sit somewhere between criticism, travelogue, and personal essay.