Category: Foreign Affairs
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Travel Writing on Kingdoms
All travel writing is essentially the same. The essence shifts away from plot and in favor of setting.
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Where Fact Meets Fiction
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by
My personal journeys work best as parody. I am a very unserious traveler. I board the train for the potato cutlet, not the arrival in Bangaluru.
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Review: If You Turn to Look Back
We’re with him now, vibrant present looking back at blurry past, teased as much from this vital trip as from old photos, journals, and letters. He has three more stops to make.
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A writer in residence
I’ve taken on a surprising new assignment. I have a nice official title, but what it boils down to really is writer in residence. And what is this residence? I report to a cozy white cottage behind a row of heirloom corn off the beaten paths traversing the expansive training grounds of our nation’s foreign…
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Indian Independence Day
I’m used to hearing about my sideline activity: ‘Don’t quit yer day job!’ This performance, part of my official duties, speaks for itself: time to revisit the common wisdom about where to put my energies. That said, the team who put it all together have proven once again how talented they are at producing something…
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Hold My Hand
We barely walk together anymore. The limited times we venture out, now, the barren streets pose no threat. And anyway, you have long since been “too old” for my protection. Still, you reached for my hand. Hand-in-hand we moved along the sidewalk. In whatever chaotic place, in Mumbai, Washington, Mexico City, across whatever peaceful pasture…
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Lockdown Countdown
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night announced a nationwide lockdown, freezing 1.3 billion citizens in place starting at midnight tonight (coinciding with Ugadi, the first day of the New Year on the Hindu calendar). What a relief! For weeks I’ve been grappling with the lack of an end to coronavirus anxiety. Now we know.…
Ben East Books 