Showing 1 - 10 of 21
Water woes
Asia focus, Narendra Kaushik, Published on 02/07/2018
» Arif Ali has not had a drop of piped water in the last six weeks.
Test of faith
Asia focus, Published on 27/04/2015
» Life stands still in Ladakh's Buddhist monasteries. Prayers, monastic chores, fasting, more prayers and more fasting is pretty much how monks have lived their austere lives here for centuries. Trappings of technology such as mobile phones and Maggie (instant noodles) have trickled in but with no significant impact on their Spartan lives.
Keeper of the flame
Asia focus, Published on 23/03/2015
» Rising from the banks of the Ganga, a series of long, narrow pan-stained stone steps takes you up to the residence of the most famous undertaker in India. He is the lord of Varanasi's famed cremation ghats. His name is Sanjit but he is known by his honorific Dom Raja.
Literary lions in winter
Asia focus, Sanjay Austa, Published on 16/02/2015
» 'Take it on the chin and move on," Nobel Laureate VS Naipaul curtly told writer and friend Paul Theroux when the latter confronted him for ignoring his letters, bringing their three decades of friendship to an end 19 years ago.
Grappling for Glory
Asia focus, Published on 22/09/2014
» It's Friday in Dubai, just about an hour before the evening prayers. A short walk from the Hyatt Regency in Deira, a rag-tag throng of men in pathani suits begin to form a large circle in the light of the setting sun. In their midst, a man with a henna-dyed beard and surma-lined eyes makes a clarion call to the bugling of the bagpipes:
Meals for the multitudes
Asia focus, Published on 18/08/2014
» It is a kitchen that defies all proportions. The aluminium pots are so huge they dwarf you completely. The ladles are the size of rowing oars. The trays have the circumference of trampolines and the jugs are as capacious as buckets.
The Day the Music Died
Asia focus, Published on 28/07/2014
» As elsewhere, music in India has its origins in religion. Hymns sung to the temple gods eventually began to be organised into ragas. It was just as well that Varanasi, the holiest Indian city, with some of the holiest temples, shrines and ghats, became a cauldron of music and musicians.
Indian clinic brings hope to childless couples and a new start for surrogates
Asia focus, Published on 23/06/2014
» To the outside world, the dusty town of Anand in eastern Gujarat state is known primarily as the hub of Amul Industries and, like everything in Gujarat, emblematic of former chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s successful development model.
Peak Performers
Asia focus, Published on 09/06/2014
» Fishermen and mountaineers, it is said, have a natural flair for tall tales. But the yarn is never so grand as that of the Everest climber.
‘Little Africa’ in India
Asia focus, Published on 28/04/2014
» Do you want to see a habshi?” asks my guide, pointing to an African boy sitting under a tree as we enter Gir in Gujarat — home to the famous Asiatic lions.