Waiting for the Monsoon
Revisiting Cirebon
The train from Gambir station left on time. It was packed. There were mothers with children, grandparents, students and a sprinkling of tourists. The backyards of Jakarta looked unfamiliar as the train passed along the raised tracks. There were chicken coops, fruit trees and the occasional vegetable vendor, selling her produce along the tracks. In […]
In the Punjab
There is a difference in the air. It is fresh, with the faint smell of a burning field. The harvest is just over and there are fields, brown in places, burnt black in others. In amongst the brown there are fields of green speckled with little yellow flowers. Then there are the spinach, potato, cauliflower […]
The Twin Cities – Calcutta and Dhaka
It may seem otherwise but Calcutta (or Kolkata as it is now known) and Dhaka (or Dacca as it was once known) are really cities that belong to each other. During the Raj Calcutta became the pre-eminent centre with commerce and administration at its heart. Dhaka became a provincial backwater for the British administrators. Yet […]
Madras: The Uncertain City
Different Journeys; Different Moments
There is something strangely peaceful about Malacca. The sense of complete relaxation that takes over once you get past the Ayer Keroh exit from the highway is unexplainable. It is as if the journey has come to an end and the moment for releasing all the cares in the world has arrived. I have travelled […]
Discovering Paradise
The Malay World
The flight from Singapore left at an early hour. It was full. Almost all the passengers were Chinese Indonesians returning from their shopping and medical trips. The journey was short: within an hour we were already landing in Palembang. I could see the wide expanse of the brown river beneath and the large tracts of […]