One of my favorite dialogues from Seinfeld has to be the one where Jerry and George discuss their favorite explorers. [mp3] Jerry likes Magellan. George likes DeSoto: Jerry: What did he do? George: Discovered the Mississippi. Jerry: Like they wouldn’t have discovered that anyway! Well, I’ve always liked Vasco da Gama. Columbus may have discovered…
The second leg of our Kerala weekend took place aboard a Kettuvalam, or houseboat. Historically, Kettuvalams were used to transport rice, coir, or other products down the Keralan backwaters. But most of the ones you’ll see these days have been reincarnated as houseboats for tourists. For the most part, the Kettuvalams are welcomed by the…
It’s a true testament to a place when, after arriving, you feel that you never want to leave. That was my first impression of Kerala. The state on the southern tip of India is greener than green, with an overabundance of coconut palms, rice paddies, and fresh water lakes dotted with floating hyacinths and debris…
Bombay has been incredibly merry for the past several weeks because of Ramzan (aka, Ramadan) and the run-up to Diwali. In fact, Bombay has sort-of lived up to its name: BOMB-Bay. Neighborhood kids are setting off massively loud fireworks at all hours of the day, and the boom can be quite disconcerting to the uninitiated….
There was only one way to ease our sorrows last Wednesday night after we realized the inevitable, and that was to drink. And eat. Luckily for us, the reopening of the club Enigma came on a night when we needed to forget about the day’s news. The reopening had been much talked about since I…
This was my reaction to the sad, sad re-election of W. (So, it’s not spelled just so, but you get it, right?) By the way, this shot is from Bombay’s Hanging Gardens, one of the few, grassy tranquil places in the city. More on these later when I get over my depression hangover…
Before I switch to full-on U.S. election monitoring mode (my nerves are already a wreck, compounded by the fact that I’m currently reading Dude, Where’s My Country), I thought I’d reflect on the past two months in India. Gosh…it’s already been two months. And in that time, I’ve come to appreciate and/or accept some of…
Mumbai has great shopping: clothing, jewelry, furniture, fabrics, books, you name it. And, of course, there are great bargains to be found if you know where to look. The one thing I really admire about the culture here, at least with respect to women’s clothing, is that you’ll never see two women wearing the same…
Good news. You don’t have to go all the way down to Goa to find swimmable waters and clean beaches. Maharashtra’s Konkan Coast has some surprisingly nice beaches, too. Faced with a long weekend, Anthony and I were desperate to get out of town for a little R&R. Not that I wouldn’t have minded chilling…
