Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘india’ Category

Pav Bhaji on the Beach

Posted in india, mumbai, writing on May 18, 2010 | 29 Comments »

He has curly hair and a thick moustache, both glistening with sweat. His brows are furrowed, maybe in concentration, or maybe that’s just how he wears his face. A striped black apron hides a faded white shirt, but not his frayed collar. He stands on a platform. The smoke from the large tava shapes into [...]

Read Full Post »

Sounds Like Home

Posted in india, mumbai, writing on April 10, 2010 | 27 Comments »

It’s never quiet. Never. From the first thing I hear – the piercing door bell at 6am (the morning milk run), to farting rickshaws, crashing utensils, bird calls, hawkers peddling their wares, multiple cricket matches, to the lone barking dogs past midnight, I share the day with constant clashing sounds. I’ve grown up with these [...]

Read Full Post »

Mumbai – In the Air; On the Ground

Posted in india, mumbai, notes on March 15, 2010 | 24 Comments »

We hover in the sky for twenty minutes. Below the city is twinkling orange; her unplanned madness is surprisingly beautiful, at least it is from up here. In Europe the lights arrange themselves in careful squares and rectangles, all connected by long straight highways or prim roundabouts. Little dots of cars follow lanes, one behind [...]

Read Full Post »

How to Survive Auto Rickshaws in the Subcontinent

Posted in how/why, india, mumbai on December 11, 2009 | 30 Comments »

I love rickshaws. They are exciting. They are insane. These days they a little green as well, running on LPG. But rickshaws aren’t for the faint hearted or the weak of stomach. They demand a certain strength of character, and a cheat code: as with everything Indian, there is order in chaos, and once you [...]

Read Full Post »

Mumbai 26/11/08

Posted in india, mumbai on November 26, 2009 | 7 Comments »

My only memory of him is of a moving figure behind piles of Newspaper. I’d pull out a copy of the paper I wanted, say it out loud, leave the coin on the stack and walk away, heading for class or towards a train, back home. In the background a railway employee announced train departures [...]

Read Full Post »

The Boatman on the Backwaters

Posted in india, kerala, lazy tourist on November 9, 2009 | 15 Comments »

The dark brown boat wobbled like a village drunk as I stepped into it. My husband, still on land, gripped my left hand (the right instantly flew up in search of balance). Our boatman laughed. He stood a little away, one hand resting on his waist, the other on a pole. Unlike the resort staff, [...]

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »