Category Archives: Chapters

Chapter 144: This gun is not for me

Paharganj, New Delhi Delhi was where I started my trip in India, and, in one way or another, it’s where my trip would end. I was staying in a small, haphazardly built guest house in Connaught Place, a big busy double sided ring of posh shops lining a large traffic circle with a park in [...]

Chapter 143: At the Mountains of Madness

View Gokyo-Ri in Google Earth / Maps … or, The story of Sam’s failed summit of Gokyo Ri The alarm went off at 4:30am, piercing the darkness with an incessantly irritating beeping. Dave got up and started donning warm clothing in the dark, and I pulled down the wool hat over my ears. I had [...]

Chapter 142: Maybe Tomorrow

Contrary to popular belief, the Hindu cow is a remarkably driven animal. Its goal is to do, or move, as little as physically possible, and it sets towards this goal with a ferocious determination that would be the envy of Olympic athletes and board room executives (if only they’d think of it). This realization came [...]

Chapter 141: The Malabar Express

My peaceful slumber was shaken by a slow droning noise. This noise wasn’t the train wheels noisily and steadily going along the track as we sped along the countryside. No, this noise is almost more pervasive in the Indian train system. A simple soundtrack to bring you straight from a fantastic dream into the reality [...]

Chapter 140: The darkness of Dharavi

There are two India’s, according to Balram Halwai, Aravind Adiga’s protagonist in the book, The White Tiger. The first India is that of the Light, that of wealth, technology, education. The Light flows from the coasts inward, and is embodied in the Taj Mahal, New Delhi, cosmopolitan Mumbai, the beaches, the majestic deserts and the [...]