Pulkit Vasudha Cruising on a dark, desert highway across the width of California, I entered the outskirts of Phoenix on a balmy summer night. Long before the city lights approached, the weak beams of my 1995 Nissan began picking out stupefied giants scattered across a bare Arizonian landscape. As I pulled up outside my host’s, [...]
Pulkit Vasudha I had planned to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City in fading daylight, so I could guiltlessly gawk at the horrific reminders of the Vietnam War. I had expected a city struggling with the lingering pain of war, its people maimed and crippled by Agent Orange, and the economy buckling under imposed communist rule. [...]
Pulkit Vasudha A rustic fishermen’s hamlet speckled with cashew shrubs, palm trees fringing the horizon, brown sands dotted with seagulls, and a blue sea yet undiscovered by weekend beach seekers. “Near Chennai? Impossible,” I said, when told about it. The adventure tour company assured me it wasn’t a marketing gimmick. It wasn’t. Katupalli Islands, 40 [...]
Pulkit Vasudha Tajpur (Ahmedabad), July 9: FOR six years now, Tajpur village has been commemorating the 1857 mutiny through a programme attended by Ministers of State. And for six years, the ministers have come, talked about development issues and then bid adieu until the next year. Monday’s programme to mark the completion of 150 years [...]
Pulkit Vasudha Ahmedabad, Jul 6: Major discrepancies have come up in regard to the condition of the regional transport offices (RTOs) in the state. In December 2005, Bangalore had almost 23 lakh vehicles on its roads, with 10 regional transport officers and 217 technical inspectors. In comparison, today, Ahmedabad has almost 30 lakh vehicles, with [...]