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Category Archives: Bombay

Trips That Didn’t Happen

GUATEMALA CITY—I wanted to call this essay, “Trips that Never Come to Pass,” or “Trips that Never Happened,” but that would presume to know the unknown. “Trips that were Postponed,” assumes they actually will happen and, “Trips that Were Postponed but Might or Might Not Happen, Who Knows Anything Anyway?” is just awkward.  My life […]

Despite the Photographs it is all being Forgotten

MUMBAI–I have a memory etched into my personal history, one I recall to remind myself of something. I was in Honduras on a nine month assignment with a medical relief NGO. It was nearing the end of my time and all I could think about was where I would go and what I would do, […]

The Enigma of No and the Mystery of Yes

MUMBAI – Nothing comes easily in India. At times it feels as if everything from the bureaucracy to nature itself is out to thwart whatever you are trying to do. Then, somehow, if you have patience, the path mysteriously clears and things come together, usually with absolutely no explanation. You never know why you couldn’t […]

I am Still Figuring it Out

MUMBAI—The smell hits you first. From the first moment India surrounds you, absorbs you into its atmosphere, its rush and flow. You have spent hour upon hour in the grey, nowhere interzone of the jet-plane. The air hisses white noise, your prayers and the engines keep you aloft as, unnoticed, you cross borders and lines […]

Varanasi & Ganga Ma

  VARANASI — It is the black hours before dawn. The boat pushes out into the slow current. The ghats and towers of the ancient city are outlined in the light of dim electric bulbs and small fires. Those lights create a half circle of light over the river that fades into the black of […]

Ganpati Year Two

Time of Monsoon

 

Night City

BOMBAY–Rush hour starts late by American standards. At 8 a.m. the traffic is light. At 4 or even 5 in the evening the traffic is insane but light by Bombay standards. 7 p.m. is a madhouse of trucks and horns and motorbikes and rickshaws and trains and buses heading home into the evening.  The city […]

The Coming Storm

MUMBAI—There were drops of rain on the windscreen this morning. The surface of the Sea Link bridge was wet and there were towering grey clouds in the near distance pierced by light grey rays of sunlight. The news tells of rain in the countryside, rain to the east, rain in Sri Lanka. The official start […]

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