Recent Posts
Urban Legends
Return To Blog Listing
An Indian in London looks at the cities she lives in and travels to through the eyes of a trained urban planner/designer and through the lens of her faithful camera - narrating the city in the true spirit of flanerie.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'india'
The other Mumbai wakes up
Early on a Sunday morning, the Fort area of south Bombay ought to be deserted. No throngs of suits and ties, no briefcases and cellphones, no long and short cars and traffic jams and honking and cursing and sweating policemen just barely managing to ...
Mumbai Disturbia
There's a Sanskrit word with its roots in Indian Hindu philosophy and mythology called "Maya" - meaning illusion, something that embodies duality - that, which changes face and confuses our perception of reality in daily life. Mumbai, the city, epit...
Exciting Times
These are exciting times. As I type this, I'm sitting on a couch amidst half-filled suitcases and Fedex boxes. Yes, the India stint is nearly over and I'll be back in London very soon. I'm saying goodbyes, getting just a touch emotional, and also slo...
A brief pause (to recuperate)
It had to happen. All that traveling has finally taken its toll on me. I've been ill for a week now and as soon as I thought I was done with it, I was diagnosed with some more stuff that will take its time to go away, it seems. I'll spare you the go...
The India Chronicles | Highway Eating - 1
"How much longer?", I ask the driver."Just 15 more minutes, Maddum...few kilometres only", he says to my reflection in the rear view mirror.We are cruising down State Highway 17, south-west of Bangalore towards Mysore and onwards to our lovely weeken...
The India Chronicles | The Hues of Dastkar
It is no secret that India is a treasure trove of indigenous art and craft. Every state, region, sometimes even every second town or village has its own form of language, art, craft and resulting influences on design and living. Some of these art for...
The India Chronicles | The Drum Sellers of MG Road
There is quite a difference in how a photographer is perceived and received on the streets in London and in India. In London, there is a simultaneous sense of respect and distrust - people move out of your frame, wait to pass until you've finished cl...
The India Chronicles | Another Life - 3
We had to return to the lodge due to the heat, albeit on a high from our encounter with the girls. But we promised ourselves we'd stop by at the village again. The next day, our our way back, I made the driver stop in the village so that I could cli...
The India Chronicles | Another Life - 2
Continued from here. It were the children in Karapura who grabbed our attention. As we drove into the village on a Saturday, and waved back at the excited children trying to keep pace with our lurching SUV, we couldn't help but notice that all of th...
The India Chronicles | Another Life - 1
Karapura is a tiny village in the heart of southern Karnataka, set in the idyllic lap of nature - the Nilgiris to one side, the river Kabini on another and lush green tropical forest all around. Its location is its lucky charm, its passage out of the...
The India Chronicles | Of Random Nostalgic Connects
When people in London ask me how diverse India really is, I tell them it is like Europe condensed into one country. The cultures and sub-cultures, the languages, the dialects, the people, the physical and metaphysical variegation... physically, India...
The India Chronicles | Bangalore - a quirky slice of home
When an American, a Canadian and a South African unanimously recommend Sethji's for a good home-cooked North Indian meal in Bangalore - a city you are more of a newcomer to, than them - you listen. And then you try to locate the very popular place (t...
The India Chronicles: A Mumbai Monsoon Part 2
A Mumbai Monsoon Part 1 Sometimes clichés are beautiful, despite themselves. The choppy Arabian sea in the stiff Monsoon breeze, for instance. The pregnant clouds hang low over the horizon, threatening to burst any moment. The stiff cool wind, la...
The India Chronicles: A Mumbai Monsoon
The first sprinkle of rain on a parched city. After months of waiting, praying, watching the blazing skies for signs of the swollen black clouds that bring respite; bring life back into the trees, into the eyes and souls of the millions suffering the...
A new chapter: India for the Summer!
And here comes the big announcement that I'd teased you with in this post. The Flaneurbanite is off to India for the Summer! It's a planned three month long work-cum-leisure trip and if all goes as per plan, I'll be back in London at the end of Septe...
Meerut
On a steaming hot afternoon in the middle of summer 2006 in Meerut, India, life goes on without a trace of regard to the fierce sun. click to enlarge While I sit in my air-conditioned taxi, a... more... ...
