Tag Archives: everyday life Any visitor to these pages knows I love markets. So, on my first day in Srinagar, the largest city and summer capital of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India, I was in my element. The itinerary had us walking through various old streets and markets. I was travelling with a small group of […]  I’ve said it before: being on and around the waters of Vembanad Lake in Kerala, South India had a soporific effect on me (see: On the Kerala Backwaters). The heat – and the haze that the heat produced on the water – and soft chugging of the motors of the river traffic had me feeling like […]  India is a bundle of contradictions: chaos and calm permeate everything in equal measure. The sacred and the mundane rub shoulders. Think of the mingling scents of incense, cow dung, and refuse, and you might get a sense of it. India is never dull! Every time I wander Indian streets, I return to my lodgings […]  India is a collection of colourful paradoxes. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Holy Cities along the Ganges: that river that is the embodiment of all the sacred waters in Hindu mythology and at the same time, one of the most contaminated rivers in the world. So, while it is said that you […]  Any visitor to these pages knows I love markets. I love the insight they give into the lives of the locals: What foods do they eat? How do they barter or trade? How do they engage with (or not!) the foreigner in their midst? How do they interact with each other? I love the apparent […] |
|
