Letter from India

By Greenfields - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Fragrance of Jasmine/Chameli

Two nights ago, driving home, we stopped at the traffic light, and two young boys swarmed around the car windows, with garlands of jasmine in their hands. As a child, on hot summer evenings as we are experiencing now, my two sisters and I would pluck the jasmine flowers from the knee high green... Sign in to see full entry.

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Friday, June 8, 2007

The Kabul Beauty School

Book Review: The Kabul Beauty School - The Art of Friendship and Freedom By Deborah Rodriguez with Kristin Ohlson Published by Random House, New York and Hodder and Stoughton, London, 2007. 269 pages. A work of non-fiction Deborah Rodriguez’s book could almost be fictional. Only that it isn’t. It’s... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 11:25 PM | add or view comments (10) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The heart of Spiderman

Two weeks ago, 34 year old Ratna, the daughter of a friend, and I went to see Spiderman. At a dinner gathering at her parents place she complained she couldn't find anyone to see the film with. I'll go, I said. Her mother was shocked that we would want to see it. We laughed and scoffed at her for... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 8:31 PM | add or view comments (10) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, June 4, 2007

Recommending - The Witch of Portobello

The year 2007 brings the release of Paulo Coelho's latest work of fiction, The Witch of Portobello. It is also the 20th anniversary of Coelho's medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago in Brazil, which resulted in his book The Pilgrimage, describing his experiences and discovery that the extraordinary... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 9:14 PM | add or view comments (11) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Recommending 'Come Back to Afghanistan'

Yesterday a friend asked what I was reading. I just finished 'Come Back to Afghanistan: My Journey from California to Kabul ' written by Said Hyder Akbar, a 20-year old college student in California. Like many others, Akbar's story is a migrating one - from Afghanistan to Pakistan, India, and then... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 11:30 PM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Cross border learning

Earlier this week I participated in a very interesting forum. Three women and two Pakistani men came across the border to visit projects in the two poorer but very challenging states of eastern India - Bihar and Jharkhand. It was a peer learning project between people and organizations working in... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 9:41 PM | add or view comments (11) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Cures at the speed of dish washing

Yesterday, during my two day meeting, I had a flash – that I expect everything that goes wrong with my body to be fixed immediately. I have no patience and begin to despair at the thought of how long it would take to fix it. I realize it’s related to my asthma attacks as a child – and the awful fear... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 8:38 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

The Lake of Nine Eyes

Last Thursday, while we were in the hills, my two sisters, brother in law and I headed for the big town of Nanital (in Hindi meaning the lake of nine eyes). There is a legend behind the name, but unfortunately, I can never remember it. Nanital is known as a ‘hill station’. At 6000 feet above sea... Sign in to see full entry.

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Through a Lens, Brightly

In the last five days I have been in the mountains, I have taken over 200 photographs. Every day I take the photographs, download them into my laptop, and have a show for the family. I take pictures of the scenery, flowers, herbs, trees, bushes, stones, tiles, walls, family, the dog - anything that... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 10:25 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Family Neuroses and Other Pastimes

Last night I was at a dinner gathering in which three generations rubbed shoulders with each other. Almost. The grandmother, in her mid-70s, was late, and we were welcomed by her daughter-in-law and son. Coming in, she said her grandson Siddharth was sick and she was tending to him. We expressed... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Greenfields at 9:44 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

About this Blog

I started this blog in mid-March 2006 when I moved to Kabul, Afghanistan, for a four-month assignment. In mid-July I moved back to India, and am continuing the blog.

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