Each one has more intricacy, information and culture, beauty and potential making you wonder at the iconic status of Barbie. Each one speaks volumes about a nation – the prevalent social conditions, religious sentiments, traditions, even the economy of the period. The costumes are perfect renditions of the fashion of the times. Some are laid out as elaborate sets – Japanese tea ritual and voodoo, a construction site replete with brick-laden pushcarts, a bullfight gone awry with a bolero in gored agony. And there are over 6,000 of them. An
Side zip or flip flop boots, fitting trousers, button or tie waist cardigans and tee shirts with no serious cuss will all breeze us through the airport security. Blanket scarves, shades and the tech-case cum travel wallet were designed to make travel cushy and hassle-free. Then, what about the other side? How do you keep looking good and comfy once you reach your destination? As you go about taking in the sights and the histories, the culture and the culinary? At the same time, adding a dash of your own
December 29, 2012, New Delhi. ‘When the body and the brain give up, the heart takes over.’ I was pondering over this status update on Facebook when Damini died. She gave in to the diabolic assaults and rapes she sustained a fortnight earlier. ‘An abominable upbringing is no excuse for a monstrous adulthood.’ I vented my rage with my hopes for getting the noose for the ugliest set of criminals ever to inhabit the darker media. Then, writing about something you feel strongly about – or imagine vividly – makes
In a land of 330 million deities, the risk lies more in running out of devotees than running short on festivals. Staking a righteous claim to the title ‘land of festivals’ is almost every second state of the republic – starting in the south from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan to West Bengal and further on to Nagaland. Birth of deities, death of saints, change of seasons, arrival of rains and harvest, a festival for selling camels, another for buying cattle…the reasons are as recherché
My kitty of some 30 odd pugmarks counted at least a dozen. There was also the unending one which striped my boat’s wake for some distance or so I thought looking back on life till then but was actually headed for the herd of deer grazing on the banks across. Who counted it or whether anyone did at all, I was not sure. But when I saw it in midflight, I was sure glad that I didn’t see it anywhere during the last seven days – black and yellow stripes
Come December and an almost-traditional lull in violence draws a comforting, silencing blanket over Kashmir. I was always fascinated by this phenomenon – why and how was this possible? Why would militants and separatists chose to stay indoors, stoking their butt-reddened palms by the fire? Do ideologies have Christmas offs? Or after an active year, was it a simple case of organisation fatigue setting in? When we were courting, me and my wife Minu went to Kashmir, part work part holiday. Okay, mostly holiday with a spot of work thrown
Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, describes Sri Lanka as a ‘small universe with as many variations of colour, scenery and climate as some countries a dozen times its size.’ The futurist and author should know as he settled here in 1956 and lived here till his death in 2008. Snapshots from a road trip that zigzagged over 1,000 kilometres, covering some very exotic locations of this island steeped in history. COLOMBO The sea, on a platter On the west coast of the island is the capital
“Savour every sandwich, live each day as if it’s your last,” says Edward Readicker-Henderson, contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler and author of several favourites including ‘The Traveler’s Guide to Japanese Pilgrimages’, ‘Adventure Guide to the Alaskan Highway’ and the seminal ‘A Short History of the Honey Bee’. He opens up to Wanderink.com on what keeps him going despite a debilitating medical condition which has doctors numbering his days, how bucket lists are mistakes and the possibility of cult copyright – part naughty and part game – ‘Strip Passport’ debuting
Hic! It’s time to make amends. Since the first tourist set out – maps, bags, spirit of adventure, a premature but prickly pining for home, et al – tourism has followed many paths: heritage and medical to eco and spiritual. From the not-so-widely-spoken but practiced sex tourism to new niches like ‘graveyard’ and ‘LP’ tourism (see earlier post ‘The Walking Tourist’). A visit to Napa Valley or Nashik can be passed off for ‘wine tourism’ and everywhere else during summer, ‘beer tourism’. In the froth of all this action, the
My Land Rover phone had held me in good stead the last year when I really roughed it out – including the Parikrama of Mount Kailas in Tibet. I must have dropped it umpteen times and dropped it in flowing water, once even threw it to scare away a ferocious, snappy mutt. It was even returned to me once when I lost it – then like my friends say it could be because it resembled a bulky walkie-talkie. Whatever – it had run its course, served me well – I
