03/05/2020 Day 40 Travelers are strange people in a way, speaking of those who take upon themselves as their life’s mission to visit places not known to them, sounds and ways unheard by them. They self-sentence themselves to fast paced days behaving as swimmers gasping for breath on their long lap and then get home … Continue reading Day 40: On travel & Maistre’s ‘A Journey Round My Room’
Category: Travel
Day 10: Letters
The Peace Palace, The Hague. 2019 3/04/2020 Day 10 The injured leg swells up less often these days. It is recovering well. There is an unmistakable feeling of being fortunate because the injury didn’t require urgent attention or a hospital visit. It would have been hard to arrange for that considering the lockdown and severely … Continue reading Day 10: Letters
A University: Kashmir
Exit towards Sir Syed Gate, University of Kashmir University of Kashmir, Sir Syed Gate ‘What brings you to the valley?’, she asks as I stand looking at a board which lists M.Phil scholars, their supervisors and their thesis titles in the English Department. I am intrigued by T N Dhar and M L Pandit’s name … Continue reading A University: Kashmir
Notes from an Indian highway
Towns and villages along Indian highways that connect major cities are being transformed in ways that will have significant bearing on the growth trajectory of this country. It is in these locations that India is changing perhaps more rapidly. One tends to imagine the metropolis as a site of reading transformation in a society, which … Continue reading Notes from an Indian highway
Returning from a ride
04/11/2018 The year is turning soon. From the highways, it was as though South of this country is a glasshouse, separate from the Northern landmass. Days are pleasant here. Sun is soft. October and November are windy and the landscapes appear fluttering like flags in wind. With December, as Brigade Road lights up for Christmas … Continue reading Returning from a ride
Arbeit macht frei: Auschwitz and Birkenau
What disturbs me about this place seems an obvious answer on the face of it. A million human lives were destroyed here in a time which I can only read about and imagine. I live in its continuity. But I haven’t had the misfortune of being in the time when it happened, to have witnessed … Continue reading Arbeit macht frei: Auschwitz and Birkenau
About Amsterdam
Manu Joseph writes about people and spaces around Spui, in the tourist hub of Amsterdam. His dry humor is enjoyable as much as his reading of the place interesting. The trams disappear just that way! His is going after happiness as a theme, as I figure from his columns. If it is to bust this … Continue reading About Amsterdam
How Long For Dar Es Salaam? : More, more, more
The specifics of travel in these times are standard. We know our way through the border controls, airports, transfers and how to arrive at hotels in new cities. In most parts of the world this is straightforward. The discomfort about the unknown begins beyond this point when the guidebook is not taken, travel forums are … Continue reading How Long For Dar Es Salaam? : More, more, more
A travel note from East Africa
9/7/2018 Kampala Arrived in Kampala after a twelve-hour bus ride from Kigali. Through the bus window, one gets a slow and close introduction to the landscapes, life and people outside of the capital cities. Kampala’s playlist goes on until early hours, uninterrupted and loud. Sleep if one must, enveloped by sound. Travelers join in, linger, … Continue reading A travel note from East Africa
Possibilities in forgiveness and healing: Rwanda
Kigali smiles generously. There is intrigue, amusement or a smile on most faces that a visitor crosses on the streets here. and kind to each other in numerous small ways. Elsewhere, we spent time discussing conflict, peace and post-conflict societies. This elsewhere was a classroom several years back, in Bangalore. We were high on ideas … Continue reading Possibilities in forgiveness and healing: Rwanda
Contested Realities 