Category: Travel
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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.…
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The United States Department of State
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by
Referred to as the State Department, State, and DOS, the U.S. Department of State has recently been called by an unfitting new label. I don’t care about the insult. Hearing it called “deep state department” glances off as a meaningless jab. I’ve long inured myself against the public bluster. What concerns me more is the…
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Gandhi at 150
It’s been 150 years since Gandhi’s birth, initiating a circle that goes round today. This year Gandhi Jayanti falls on the fourth day of Navratri, and so we’ve made his iconic ashram part of our annual display. It’s nearly finished, this replica of his simple home on the banks of the Sabarmati River in Gujarat.…
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Holidays Upon Us
It’s that time of year! The lights are out and the home is warm. For the next weeks and months we’ll enjoy the soft glow of string lights. Here in Western India Navratri begins tomorrow. It lasts nine nights. Throughout the period, in this part of the country, we’ll recognize the victory of good over…
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Swipe-N-Wipe?
The Internet can solve a lot of problems, but not this one. Spotted this sign in heavy traffic on the stretch between Navi Mumbai and Mumbai proper. Never did spot the facility itself as promised, 100 meters on. Or was that the place where all the cyborgs were lined up, that most human of all…
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It Rains, It Pours
Tuesday I flew to Delhi, this kitchen knife concealed in my shoulder bag. Security missed the 5-½” blade. Wednesday my phone blew up during a seminar I was conducting with 90 colleagues, a deluge of messages from Mumbai, much of the city underwater, including the 5km stretch between my son’s elementary school and home. A…
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Ground Control to Chandrayaan
To India’s space scientists today: Keep your eyes toward the heavens… Your efforts these last eight years, culminating in a profound silence from Lunar Lander Vikram moments before touchdown, share a vast and spirited company. Brave adventurers have gone before you and not returned. Their sacrifices line our memories. Their endeavors fire our imagination. Your vision gives…
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Wasn’t Born to Follow
A man went looking for America, and couldn’t find it anywhere… A film about intolerance and fear of “the other” as much as anything, Easy Rider today is as timely as ever. RIP Peter Fonda.
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Fly America, Call the Philippines (pt II)
When your official government itinerary on U.S.-flag contract carrier United Airlines is thrown into disarray because of concerns about flying over Iranian air space… …and the United agents can’t confirm the final leg of your trip (which includes traveling on Air Canada, Germany’s Lufthansa, and Air India) for 24 hours… …so that after two hours on…
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Take Off Happens
Late lunch when Jack leaves early and gets th’ job done. 03:25 wake up 03:50 pick up 04:50 boarding 05:20 liftoff Mumbai 07:25 touchdown Delhi 08:35 report for duty 09:00 call to order 13:00 adjourn 14:00 reach ile bar T1 Take-off happens ##
Ben East Books 