Article Index: India Will Decide

Let India Be Your Guide: Stories from India


A Concise History of Cinema
(Bundi, Rajasthan)"They barely touched in the days of Twinkle Khanna’s debut, the hero and the heroine, as they sang and danced and sensually..."  More...

A Mountain in Need
(Darjeeling, Paschimbanga)
"You can always tell a traveller. It’s not by the number of stamps in their passport, but in their eyes. Just talk of journey and a traveller’s eyes will..."  More...

Aspects of Lord Shiva
(Unakoti, Tripura)
The immediate world, the world in general and the inside world are the elements of Shiva’s trident.  The beauty of the hills was immediate; the daily... More...

As We Are
(Patna, Bihar)
"The mirror man was waiting although we didn’t know it and neither did he.  He must’ve been busy that afternoon with whatever mirror men of an afternoon do, as we arrived at Patna Junction train station and..."  More...

Bangladesh Waiting
(North India: Delhi to Bangaon, Paschimbanga)
"...ultimately, pre-arrival, we’d settled on a direction: ours would be a clockwise tour from Rajasthan and Delhi to Kolkata, then somewhere South India and back to..."   More...

Legends of the Brahmaputra
(Guwahati, Assam)
"Rivers are story-tellers; the Brahmaputra is no exception. Just as their waters carry the filaments of earth to deposit at will along the length of their predetermined..."  More...

The Box of Mangoes 
(Malda Town, Paschimbanga)

"I suppose I am not suggesting ‘India’ in the sense that Sonia or Manmohan or even one Ms. Banerjee of Kolkata should be struggling with their consciences over said outstanding mango box.  India is clearly ..." More...

The Modern Jajabor
(Kolkata, Paschimbanga)
When one jajabor does meet another, in my experience it’s a happy event, a meeting without formality and no more constraint to it than the hopping about of a sparrow on a windowsill.  There’s calmness in not needing to... More...

There Shall Have Been Jaisalmer 

(Jaisalmer, Rajasthan)

"And the he-camel shall have passed beside she-camels and there shall have been bellowing, camel lips inverted with bubbling froth welling up from a camel mouth.  Camels live for about twenty years, they shall have heard, with..." More...

The Secret of Prionkor's Tea

(Kolkata, Paschimbanga)

"He had arrived on his cycle-van, the way he’d found to make a living over there.  Thank goodness he wasn’t making tea!  He was unchanged.  I sat..." More...

You Know Harry?

(Phalodi, Rajasthan)

You know Harry, Sagar and the others?  Of course his actual name might not be Harry but it’s what they call him.  I did too.  Anyway, they were the ones I knew before I knew that I knew them... More...

India with Other Countries...

Metro Dreaming

(India, Ukraine, Sweden, Australia & Bangladesh)

"I saw it several times, what could be called the Dum Dum Phenomenon.  Along the platform at the precise points where the doors of the carriage..." More...

Rodent Tourism

(India, St. Lucia, Norway & Argentina)

"Karni Mata was a mystic believed to be a reincarnation of Durga; it is said she performed many miracles.  When her stepson Laxman drowned while attempting to take a drink from a tank, Karni Mata urged the god of death Yama to bring him back to life..."  More...