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Joe Bennett on good writing and where underpants come from
Tracing the largely unseen underwear to the land of its origin is probably the closest to discovery we can make these days. But for New Zealand columnist and travel writer Joe Bennett the reasons for...
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Partition and other sagas from Jinnah House
Compared to its Mumbai namesake Jinnah House in Delhi has shunned controversy and sits quietly away from public glare, behind man-high baroque iron gates in the middle of an expansive, well groomed...
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An evening in The Village
An idle mind is the devil’s workshop (Biblical) You shall do no work on Sabbath (also Biblical) Let there be no light Heritage abounds: The three-domed building What used to be a water tank for...
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Thampanoor Terminal (New)
(June 2 is International Sex Workers’ Day. This is a prize winning story revolving around the adventures spanning an evening of Donna aka Devi, a fictitious streetwalker based out of the Thampanoor in...
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The pangs: Voices from a growing town
I am conscious of flux, of disorder; of annihilation and despair. If this is all, this is worthless. (Virginia Woolf, The Waves) Drama and cover songs The Master Plan occupied the centrepiece of every...
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Show the bird the bird
The road to Bir Dreaming of flying is apparently a sign of good tidings. Though I do not know any dream analyst to verify I will go with it. I have been dreaming of flying since I was five and all the...
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Gunehr is now on Google
The metallic clanging from the lathe shop falling oddly in step with the strides on the makeshift catwalk next to it could have been an installation. Then, this is what happens when daily life takes an...
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Shoot at site
Looking for pusta # three-and-half Most direction-giving is associated with landmarks. Hence the parlance here changes with topography. While the Metro introduced the ‘pillar’ as a driver marker over a...
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Thrills, endurance and tolerance drills
An Edinburgh party scene (Photo from 10best.com) The ‘From the Middle East to the Mount Everest’ part is over half way into the book with the climactic final assault of the Everest taking up maybe a...
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Mahua tales: Rouse the guards
The sloth bear had turned in for the night, that too stoned, so it was alright our Gypsy didn’t move anymore. I and the tracker returned to announce breathlessly that we saw it disappear between a set...
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Mahua tales: Chawal baba zindabad
Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now. Steven Wright (wit, writer, actor) Time in slow motion A mat was placed and the lady, tall, dark and easy on the eyes, motioned me to sit. I...
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Driving dad
Pigeons traipsed in circles and trilled in distress over smoke-blackened rafters at the ongoing intrusion. We had stopped for lunch at Karumbalai, three kilometres out of Salem, ushered in from the...
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Finding my feet and shaving cream in Indonesia
“13,466,” said the UN. “17,504,” claimed Indonesia. A thousand here, there The 4,000-odd in between were mostly atolls and a concatenation of minor cays which disappeared during high tide, countered...
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Enter the dragon island: Komodo
The Komodo dragon influenced the 1933 ‘King Kong’ movie An adventure was easy to conjure: Manto the captain of the bowrider confessed to a non-functioning GPS. Everyone wore dark glasses, cigarettes...
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Eunoia Indonesia
Magical and empowering stories from the fringes of the largest archipelago. Ayo Mandiri Foundation “When even the physically fit and mentally sound finds it difficult to land a job these days it is...
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One-day-chief o’ Melo
The ritual rooster A hunt in the deep forest where I vanquished a wild boar with my bare hands followed by the martial Caci (pronounced ‘chachi’) dance when I leapt and brought the whip down on my...
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Sing a song of suspense
“When I invite my girlfriend to an evening in the karaoke bar she is aroused and anguished at the same time,” says Alitt Susanto taking deep drags from a fancy cigarette atomiser. A fruity flavour...
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Responsibly yours / Gramam, Kochi
If you have to showcase responsible tourism practices the way it should be – a collective effort – then frame this one. All the seafood, vegetables, egg, coconut, oil and fruits used in the homestay...
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Hampi rocks
‘Geological time includes now.’ Looking up at the looming cracked dolmens, precariously balanced boulders, perching promontories and other formidable formations from the gulch I was tracing it wasn’t...
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Qudsia Garden: Rangeela territory
Massive pillar baring Lahori brickwork What do you wear when you are soon going to doff it for a copulation session for canvas? What was that semaphore again for more shisha in the hookah? How long...
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