‘Travelling is a constant process of trying to get away.’ And what travellers often discover in the end is that it is their very selves they are trying to escape. Felicity Castagna captures this concept beautifully in the characters moving through this collection (and yes, these stories are character-driven despite the impression the subtitle might give: the settings are a value-add, often feeling like characters in their own right). The fact that Castagna uses Asia, a...
This self-published website-supported book treads a familiar self-help path covering off on the topics of learning to love one’s self, forgiveness, positive affirmations and the like. While the subject matter doesn’t tend to change in these kinds of books, the structure and approach in imparting the information can vary greatly.
Just Like That! is lucidly written with a warm matter-of-fact tone which makes it approachable and easy to read. One of the attractive...
Read on
This is your typical triumph-over-adversity memoir seasoned with a sprinkling of self-help. It’s a quick and easy read for anyone interested in finding out more about dyslexia and how one person experienced it. The author points out that while there are 37 key characteristics of the disorder, they can occur in different combinations and strengths in each person, making it difficult to pick up in some cases (the author was 46 when she found out by accident). Vittles...
The two flight legs to India passed without incident, unless you count the five babies on board the first leg. Marvellous how the smaller they are, the more they sound like miniature chainsaws. A relay chain of chain saws, in fact. I guess that's what movies are for.
My arrival in Mumbai was similar to that of Delhi on my last trip - dead of night, polluted air invading the plane before the doors even opened, lots of shadowy activity around the plane. But inside the...
Read on
It's been years since I've carried my pack on my back. I sit it on the edge of my bed and I line my back up with it carefully, making sure all the straps are pulled tight. It's damned heavy but it's sitting properly on my hips and I balance out the weight by hanging my book-and-water-bottle-stuffed day bag off my front. It's only a shortish walk to the train station anyway.
The walk might be short but my shoulders don’t realise this. The stupid thing is my unexercised...
Read on
My last trip to Madikeri started from Mangalore on the coast; this time I would be approaching from the eastern side. I still remembered enough of the journey to curse myself for packing my sports bra at the bottom of my bag. Getting on at the station allowed me to get a seat and a safe spot for my pack. After half an hour of constant stopping prior to leaving town, we had converted into one of those mobile terrariums I'd seen earlier.
I find it interesting observing...
Read on
Call me a little slow, but I did not anticipate that Madikeri would be a centre for holiday-makers between Christmas and New Year. It's a Christian holiday, yeah? Although I should have remembered that New Year's is Big Party Time. Luckily when I paid for two more nights this morning, I found out that my hotel is booked solid from the 24th through to the 31st, as are most others in town. As luck would have it, my conversation with the Chitra's manager was overheard by a...
Read on
