July 5th and 6th I refused to rouse myself from the cozy cool environs of John’s Cafe as Turpan’s torpid heat envelops me. Jorg and Birdy are not to be deterred and go to a nearby mosque, on cycles no less. I glug a can of Diet Coke, and allow myself to wilt in the […]
July 4th Unlike the hazy, cloudy day that greeted us yesterday in Turpan, today, as I draw the curtains across and peep outside, blue skies smile back. I can see the bazaar from here – but despite it being 8AM, the shops and the market, restaurants are all shut. I puzzle over this. In Chengdu, […]
July 2nd and 3rd As the train chugs into Gansu Province, the landscape changes. Green gives way to brown. Gansu in Chinese means “dry,” and the province is doing well to stick to that name. For hours together I watch an endless panorama of nothingness pass through. These are not the sandy desert dunes that […]
Date: July 1 It’s July 1st. The first day of an epic journey across China’s least explored provinces. And dare I say, China’s most restive provinces. It’s a Friday, and much of the day is spent packing. Just how do human beings accumulate things? It’s unbelievable the things we can do without once we realize […]
It’s been almost 6 months since I left India. I came to China thinking that learning a new language would revive a ragged mind. I thought that going back to university would help me meet people from different cultures, and that interaction would broaden my own understanding and perspective of the world. What I thought […]
It’s been a whirlwind week. First, there were exams. That has never been a favorite part of studying for me. It’ s such a collective waste of time – an assessment that never provides fair indication of your ability. Anyway, exams are there to stay, much like sliced bread, and we have to take them, […]
Last Thursday and Friday evenings were hotpot evenings. Katzka from the Czech Republic invited Birdy and I for a hotpot dinner. I was a bit unsure whether to accept or not – I don’t mind going for hotpot with classmates like Julie and Jorg. They are quite willing to conform to our vegetarian specifications. Usually, […]
Late on Sunday night, Silk messaged asking us to lunch the next day. She is leaving on the 24th to Shenzhen to begin a new phase of her life – her first job! Don’t we know it all! So, just after class, we arrange to meet her at the university’s South Gate. Silk is already […]
The other day, while having lunch at my favorite noodles place, I met a girl who looks remarkably Indian. I had been curious about her – I had seen her fleetingly, and she was usually with the Thais. There is another woman who looks so much like Rani Mukherjee, but is from Chile. Turns out […]