Indian Sub-Continent Encounters

On my first visit to India in 1980, the country was a mystery to me. Why should I feel so at home, like I was… Read More »ENCOUNTERS: ON THE VERGE OF DOOLALLY (2023)

COUNTER 22 (1989) The early morning sun was beginning to burn off the dawn mist. The dew had disappeared from the ground. On the street,… Read More »COUNTER 22 (1989)

At the corner of the street, an indigo blue enamel name plate, announced the Rue Romain Rollard. Its well-swept pavement was punctuated by poodle-tail, pollarded… Read More »THE WHITE DOT (2012)

I was anxious to be travelling east that evening. A state bus had taken me from Chandigarh, across the Punjab, to the railway station at… Read More »NIRMAL’S WATER POT (1981)

THE MAGIC OF SANCHI (2006) Arriving deep into the silent night, jet-lagged, I laid my head down in a dingy Mumbai guest house, and closed… Read More »THE MAGIC OF SANCHI (2006)

The morning town bustled, jostled and hassled. Amidst the hullabaloo I spotted a sign advertising ‘Jolly walks in landscaping garden’. It was noted, and later… Read More »CHEEK BY JOWL (1989)

It was a gloomy January day in Old Delhi, and the mood on the street was unusually flat. People were just getting on with their… Read More »THE PINK LADY (1981)

‘Madras is hot for 10 months of the year, and hotter for two.’ RK Narayan.  During one of the ten hot months, I floated in… Read More »THE SILENT COW (2012)

The Gandhi ashram lies on the west bank of the River Sabarmati, it’s an enclave of purity in Gujarat’s largest city, Ahmedabad. I felt blessed… Read More »ONE OF YOU PEOPLE (1989)

‘ ‘What time will the bus to Chamundi arrive?’ I asked a man at the bus stop. ‘It’s already two hours late’. ‘Don’t worry, sir’,… Read More »THE ROADS LESS TRAVELLED’ PART 1 (1989)