Namaste from Kerala, To borrow a laughable phrase from “The Castle”, this India place is “so full of culture”. And India is experiencing some culture wars right at the moment. You may have heard something of the culture wars, centring around the incarceration of a university student leader, accused of being anti-nationalist. …Read More
Namaste from Kerala in India, India today is experiencing ructions and protests which are probably the biggest since Partition. Trouble is brewing. The big heading in The Deccan Chronicle one day last week was “India’s Culture Wars”. This is no isolated cry in the wilderness. To put it mildly, it’s the talk of the town. eroded …Read More
Haalu kihineh a haren nakee The Maldives, After the tremendous success of the animation “Finding Nemo” – with its powerful ecological message – there was an immediate upsurge in demand for aquarium fish, especially the clownfish species made famous by the main character. Did it ever occur to the people who wanted the cute little …Read More
Haalu kihineh a haren nakee The Maldives, We’ve just arrived in The Maldives but already Linda is declaring it the best holiday she’s ever had. “But you haven’t even been here for 24 hours, dear!” I ventured. “Yes, but it’s perfect,” she retorted. The Maldives are a group of more than a thousand islands …Read More
Shuvo shokal from Dhaka, Some people laughingly complain that occupational health and safety requirements are too onerous for business or too restrictive. Some even say the rules are representative of the pendulum having swung too far in favour of the workers. I’ve never been in that camp. Here in Dhaka the construction industry is but …Read More
Good day from London, A colleague of mine once described a third party as one who would have preferred if the world stopped in 1960. It was meant as a slight deprecation of his character but I’ve never been wholly convinced by the inherent inference. England has an interesting mix of the past and future. …Read More
Good day from the old Dart, After finishing my school days back in 1977, lots of my confreres were heading to the United Kingdom on working holidays. At seventeen years many their fortunes seek. It’s been a source of regret that I didn’t have the gumption to follow suit, to follow them into this …Read More
Dia dhuit from Erin, Lionel Murphy – bearing a good Irish name and a streak of independence – heard a particular case in the High Court of Australia about an Australian Aboriginal bloke called Neal. Neal had rebelled against authority on his mission in Queensland. Murphy was often the dissenting voice in that conservative bastion and …Read More
Beannú from Ireland, Foodies have no sense of history. They must have had it surgically removed – some time between the nose job and the boob job. We are in Dingle in County Kerry, Ireland. This is a truly beautiful place, drawing visitors from far and wide to enjoy the scenery on one of the …Read More
Top o’ the mornin’ to ya’, Why are the Irish so happy? With crappy weather, widespread poverty and the Catholic church’s ridiculous constraints on daily life, you’d think they’d be the most down-at-heel, sad and forlorn people around. Add to these constant torments, they have a tortured history of poverty, famine and disease. …Read More