Maya Swell Press

Further back in the journey, someone had pointed out that you couldn’t really have experienced everything that Indian trains had to offer unless you had at least one trip in general class. The sleeper class that I had used up till now had reserved seats, and allocated bunk beds. General is chaotic, allocated only in […]

Heading from Mapusa by any means necessary, back in one version of ‘real India’. By any means necessary of course means an overnight bus. Plenty of ’em, and no booking necessary. No time to book a train, so … it’s just not the most pleasant way to get around India … add all the things […]

Hampi (as in ‘humpy’) is another of those pieces of India that are somehow in a bubble of time. Like nothing has changed there for a 1000 years, maybe an empire or two rise and fall, and leave their assorted bits and pieces lying around … The scenery is lush piled on desolation. Granite pebbles […]

Back in Bangalore, motivated by another batch of lessons in Hindustani raga. Not looking forward to Bangalore, but the arrival is much less chaotic, and I avoid the accomodation touts altogether. This time, I find a decent cheap place, 150Rs. After a few nights, I find that the airier doubles are only an extra 20Rs. […]

I had read in that infamous guidebook about a style of ritual dance-performance, Theyam… it seemed like something worth exploring … a full night of trancy beats had eluded me so far, and this seemed to be about as close as I was going to get. Theyyam is centred around Kannur in northern Kerala … […]

The marriage of Kadri’s son, Mani, to Adhithi in Mangalore was one of the big social events of the year for this corner of the Tamil music scene. Many of Kadri’s family, friends and close connections are making the journey to Mangalore. Many more will be at the reception in Chennai in the first week […]

You can’t visit India being hit by that religious assault on the senses, a hindu temple. Of what I have seen so far, the mosques are visually subdued (but noisy, they will do a loud call to prayer on bad loudspeakers at 5:30am) … the Jains are white and minimalist …but the Hindu temples … […]

India is not big on modern western graffiti yet, but they have a brilliant tradition of street art that was one of the first things that really touched me here. These are the rangoli, small chalk mandalas made by spreading fine chalk powder on the pavement. Sometimes they are colorful, sometimes just white. I’ve recently […]

Only about 70km from the chaotic new India bustle of Chennai is the Mamallapuram world heritage site. The primary attraction here is a wealth of 10th century temples and stone carvings … and the beach … and the European restaurants …. and the street hustlers selling you as many crappy bead necklaces they think you […]