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Saidapet slum, speech and silence
3 pm A slum area in Saidapet. Two girls in black hijabs lean against the gate of a small house. Curious but friendly looks. They greet me in English. There is something proud in the way they wrap their...
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Close Encounters: Hajira
(Dearest) Hajira, I am writing to inform you (regretfully) that you will never be a doctor. Today, when I came to your house by chance (because you saw me passing on your street and I will always...
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Close Encounters: Mallika
I felt inadequate and a little afraid, without quite knowing why. Was it her toughness? Her anger? Her warmth? Was it the timbre of her voice? Or the whiplash of her patience? Was it the strength of...
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Resisting Coastal Invasions
Whose sea is it anyway? The question begs an answer. Increasingly, the coast is under threat from industries like sand mining, tourism and organized fisheries which erode the rich ecosystem and...
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On East Coast Road and melancholy seas
Last month, we took a drive down to East Coast Road. As a day trip. Yes, I am aware it sounds faintly ridiculous that we drove all the way from Bangalore to ECR and came back the same day but there...
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Shreds and Patches: Machilipatnam and Kalamkari
Recently, I traveled on work to the villages around Machilipatnam in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. I usually enjoy driving through the countryside and this trip involved plenty of that (about...
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In the Shade of the Mangrove
In coastal Andhra Pradesh, I visited a number of villages where the project is doing some work on environmental rehabilitation, specifically mangrove forest restoration. At Polatithippa, we took a...
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Chamundi, churchgoing, city lights
On Sunday, we drove down to Mysore. We ate lunch at The Metropole, which was a former guest house for the Wodeyar family’s special guests and is now a Royal Orchid property. Then, we drove up Chamundi...
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