This post has been some time in the making, ever since Raul Pacheco-Vega introduced me to Andrew Szasz’s concept of an ‘inverted quarantine,’ defined further below, and fabulous Manpreet Singh and I started kicking around how the idea applied to our lives in Delhi. This week, a few events, including a desperate effort to stayContinueContinue reading “Inverted quarantines, mosquitoes & the common man in Delhi”
Category Archives: Travel
John Oliver on why context/setting matters
#lastweektonight, on mandatory minimums (video here, article with embedded video). . Context is important. For instance, shouting the phrase, “I’m coming,” is fine when catching a bus but not ok when you’re already on the bus.”
My Day Today: Dry Cleaning
[on phone, while in auto on the way to work] <e: “Hi dry cleaner. I had to leave home for office, so I left one dress hanging on my door. Can you please pick it up?” Dry Cleaner: “Sure, I will send a boy to pick it up.” . – 10 minutes later – .ContinueContinue reading “My Day Today: Dry Cleaning”
Nimboo pani: challenges and triumphs
There has been some complaint from some quarters that I have not recently provided any update about my life, reserving blog posts for slightly more wonky topics. This post will be a small antidote.* In Delhi, one way of dealing with the energy-sapping heat is nimboo pani — literally “lemons water” but in actuality lemonadeContinueContinue reading “Nimboo pani: challenges and triumphs”
miss marple & an apology to india
while i have been sick, i have watched/listened to (a fairly absurd amount of) british murder mysteries, including tommy & tuppance and miss marple (including the episode in which miss marple and tuppance team up!). on another track, there are always funny turns of phrase when working in english in india (and other places). one that always particularly tickled me was referringContinueContinue reading “miss marple & an apology to india”
question: why do well-educated people from sub-Saharan Africa often seem not to have taken any courses in African history?
i admit that i am working from an n of 2, purposively selected from Ghana and Nigeria. nevertheless, it seems worth asking, how is national history *not* part of the standard middle or high school curriculum, insofar as knowing history is an important part of educating citizens?
‘where the streets have no name’
that’s the title of a short article in the jan/feb 2013 atlantic– and i couldn’t think of a better one. i have written previously about the joys of getting and giving directions in lower-income countries – specifically for research and household follow-up, although the general taxi/auto/tuk-tuk stories of trying to reach any specific location purposefully are equally funContinueContinue reading “‘where the streets have no name’”
order, power, and the importance of history – hitler in india
here’s a topic i’ve discussed in passing for the past five years and now i suppose it is time to write on it. this article just came out, covering, roughly, hitler, gandhi, and bal thackarey in indian political discussion. i am not entirely certain of article’s claims on the extent to which admiration of hitler and dissatisfaction withContinueContinue reading “order, power, and the importance of history – hitler in india”
diwali and drugs – lessons from drug sales in india
as, you know, possibly from watching The Colbert Report, it’s dwali. as stephan and wikipedia note, diwali is the festival of lights or lamps. being in india – or at least chennai – however, one might be hard-pressed to think that it was not the festival of sound (also, sweet pongal). firecrackers – or ‘crackers’ – playContinueContinue reading “diwali and drugs – lessons from drug sales in india”
getting out the vote in columbus
I made a very last-minute decision to go to Columbus, Ohio for the get-out-the-vote effort for the few days before the election and while I am still in a zombie-like, sleep-deprived and fast-food filled state, I am very glad I did. Our ‘turf’ was in Franklin County and we worked in predominantly African-American, low-income areas.ContinueContinue reading “getting out the vote in columbus”
Heather E. Lanthorn 