Postcards from Another World | A tale of two cities

Just off Xizang road, there is a crisscross of two blocks that will cover your gifting obligations for at least a year. From a stall that boasts teapots from 1940 to a splattering of Cultural Revolution memorabilia that includes the infamous Little Red book- a compilation of Chairman Mao’s revolutionary quotations. The street is also a kaleidoscope of images of every day Shanghainese life away from the glittering towers, visible over the houses in the horizon. You will get a glimpse into the Shikumenhomes- row houses where community of families’ share common living areas. It brings Shanghai’s contradictions into jarring focus.

Even a nosy photographer cannot distract
them from a game of Mahjong

A tale of two cities - Shanghai

For more postcards please visit Postcards from Another World 

For guidebooks on Shanghai check out out post Travel guides in disguise | Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong

Pretty Pondicherry and the travel guide that isn't

We would have ridden the bicycles to our room, but they got stolen from the poolside restaurant. That's how the unwritten code of honour – 'Thou shall not seal another man's transport in Dune Eco Village and Spa' – found itself in the pooper and experience #58 Ride a bike to your room, listed in Peter Richards' 108 Experiences in Pondicherry, Auroville and Nearby got slashed with a pointy pencil. The book itself is still nestled in my handbag for quick access should I need a pick-me-up in the middle of a workday.

108 Experiences in Pondicherry, Auroville and Nearby is unlike any travel guide you have ever read. That is precisely what makes it the perfect companion for a footloose idiot passing through the union territory. You see, Pondicherry isn't a very big place and once you're through entertaining yourself with the street names – Rue Dumas, Rue Romain Rollard, Rue Jawaharlal Nehru – and done a few rounds of the churches, temples and Aurovilian shops, you need to do something to experience the place, like really grab a slice of it, you know? Richards, by no stretch of the imagination, takes you off the beaten path. He takes you through the same sights, sounds and stories but turns it into an adventure with a sense of humour.

The Manakula Vinayaka Temple is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Pondicherry. But it's no great shakes if you're a non-religious vegabond with no reason to go to a house of worship unless you're allowed to take photos, which, a lot of times, you're not. But the prospect of a tap from Lakshmi, the beautiful elephant who spends her days here, is enough to excite believers and non-believers alike. What's more is that because she is outside the prayer area, the millisecond you get to bow in front of her turns into a full fledged photo op that will put a shutterbug's skills to the test. Word to the wise - give her 10 one rupee coins rather than one 10 rupee note. #2. Get off to a good start. Be tapped by an elephant.

If the strong currents thrashing about in the Bay of Bengal aren't enough to keep your feet on dry, sandy shores, you should also know that swimming in Pondicherry also happens to be illegal. But alas, there isn't a sign board that announces this. I guess the lifeguards just sit around hoping the waves at high tide will keep pushing people out of the water over and over again, allowing them a few added moments of lathargic stupor. But if you're really quite adamant, do what my sister and I did as chidren - play Baywatch in the swimming pool. If your hotel doesn't have one, the book suggests a few hotels that allow visitors acess to massive pools for a small fee. #57 We're your designated lifeguard

“If you don't know what your booty is we can't help you. It's your booty.” Wise words, these. #77 Dance your booty off, though I don't know why anyone would pick Pondicherry for this activity. Even Bangaloreans and Chennaiites, frustrated with the ban on dancing in their cities, might think twice before picking Pondy to wear out their dancing shoes. As a Bombayite the only thing I wanted to take advantage of was the food and cheap booze and the fact that they have no alcohol and service tax to speak of. Richards believes Asian House on beach road is a good place to shimmy-shake. But I'd suggest you skip that bit and go to the roadside cart right opposite which makes beautifully marinated prawns, quail, fish and chicken that go perfectly with a cold bottle of beer.

Some experiences are hilarious to read (#7 Watch paint peel) until you realise that they're arbitrary and nothing more than fillers to reach a number higher than 100. But that shouldn't discourage you from buying this handy little book. If you have limited time to spend in Pondicherry, then most of the pointers will keep you curious enough until you make another trip. Be warned though, not all experiences are unique to the union territory -- lose a beggar, load up on sandalwood soap, read The Hindu -- but the index at the back is dead useful. With a list of places to visit, a map showing where they're placed and cross references to the experiences you can weave around them, the book gives back more than the 150 rupees it costs.

Not available on Flipkart, unfortunately. I bought my copy from Gratitude Heritage on Rue Romain Rollard.

P.S. Two more days to enter your name for The Caterpillar Cafe New Year giveaways.

Postcards from Another World | Shanghai upon-the-sea

Watching the world go by-
Dong Tai Antique Market, Shanghai

The showcase city of a nation with over 5000 years of history is bound to be staggering and a top ten list is hard to put together without leaving out something worthwhile. Shanghai is less a place of things to see and more a place of things to experience. Don’t be perturbed by the lack of color that hits you as you exit Shanghai Pudong International Airport, as the glass, concrete and grey quickly give way to innumerable splashes of red and green. To read more about my top ten places to visit in Shanghai please visit Postcards from another world

Postcards from Another world | New York New York

My walking tour of 5th Avenue, New York 

Remember when you were ten, and your little finger was curled into your mothers palm as you hid between silken Benares folds or maybe a chiffon skirt. She was talking to that neighbor who had just come back from that whirlwind visit from abroad. Your mother would say, “That’s beautiful, where is it from?” and the reply would come back casual, but topped off with a slice of smug, “New York.”

It doesn’t matter where you’re from, but if you have grown up on your mother’s diet of plastic covered vogues carefully acquired though cut throat negotiations with the local library; you have grown up with an interest in fashion that’s lying dormant and wired with affiliations that are lurking under the surface of your inner shopping GPS-New York and London, Saks and Bloomingsdale, Macy’s and Harrods.

To read more about my shopping adventures in New York go to Postcards from Another World

Travel guides in disguise | Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence

This is a continuation of our series Travel guides in disguise - alternative guides for those who want a bit more than that very effective yawn - The Lonely Planet. Something that doubles up as airport reading as well as a guide. 

You'd never believe this but I struggled to find a novel based in Florence. Before you stamp your feet, I did check out E M Forster's  A Room with a View and the many Micheal Didbin mysteries, all of which give me a "Oh, how lovely!" perspective. There are hoards of books involving serial killers and temperamental detectives but I wanted something that would give me an insight into the Medicis and renaissance Florence much like The Agony and The Ecstasy- see below. 

I finally settled on Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus, a renaissance coming of age novel of a young girl far too emaciated and gifted for her time. 

In a sense it is a very Italian novel; full of the drama of the time and her own fertile mind. The prologue is like the opening shot of a movie and sweeps you off your feet as a nun is found having lied about her illness and bearing a snake tatoo that winds over her body and ends in places no nun should ever peek. A new morning wakes and you see young Alessandra Checci as the precocious daughter of a wily trader who is swiftly moving up the ranks of Florentine society. Dressing Florence's elite has it's upside and part of it transfers onto the daughters, whose value in the marriage market place has considerably increased. That renaissance Florence's attitudes to marriage would strike a cord in most Indian cities today is a distressing fact that we can ignore for another day. In accordance with his rising stature the trader decides to bring in a bewildered painter to glorify their family chapel. And so Dunant paints the perfect landscape for a meeting of star crossed lovers. But before you write this plot out as a predictable love story, wait, because this is not all about them but about a young girl's choices during a time of one Florence's greatest tests. 

On one hand there is Girolamo Savonarola, the prior who brought Florence to its knees and waged war on its beauty and on the other hand there is Charles VIII who is marching through Tuscany and battling not just fiery Sienese but also a rumor of having six toes. Caught between the two, Alessandra- a budding artist in her own right, is forced to follow the path of least resistance which turns out to me something else quite entirely. Through her we see the futility of being a gifted woman in an age where the female sex is seen through the eyes of Eve, that witch who got Adam kicked out of Eden. In lieu of preparing for the next party,  she would lick at the wind for one whisper of the work of Botticelli or one glimpse of the workshops of Ghirlandaio all a stones-throw from her house yet locked to her. What I liked about the novel was the humor and the depth of the relationships that the girl has with her slave as well as her handsome brother. 

Dunant is definitely a master of her matter as she deftly invokes the period to life with an artists palette. Paintings come alive as she discusses drapery techniques and lights in flowing material.  It is her story not theirs and in that sense it is a true woman's novel. But  how does serve as a guide to Florence? While it is not The Agony and the Ecstasy, it is still  a good supplement and chronicles a key moment in the city's antiquity and an insight into the man that almost destroyed Florence and everything it represents today. 

Mandatory reading for a trip to Florence

The Agony & the Ecstasy by Irving Stone is more than just a biography of Michelangelo. It is a journey into the heart of Italian art and a glimpse into the history of Pope's egos. Perfect to start reading on the plane ride there and plan to finish it within the first couple of days of your stay. By then you have enough time to have the story coursing through your veins and feel completely overwhelmed as you stand in front of The Deposition (The Florence Pieta), knowing everything he went through to create it. And if you are like me, you will run to Rome and visit the Sistine chapel and his Pieta at St Peter's Basilica and reach for a large handkerchief. Yes, am a sop but I cry in style! 

Buy Birth Of Venus from Flipkart.com
Buy The Agony And The Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel Of Michelangelo from Flipkart.com

Travel guides in disguise | Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong

Photo/The Hobbit

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

-Bilbo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring

When I started traveling I used to pick up the appropriate Lonely Planet a day before my journey, quickly surf the Condenast website and I was on my way. I still use the Condenast Traveller to guide me on hotels but other guidebooks have fallen off the wayside as I started to focus on memoirs and novels. For instance in Venice,  I walked the steps of Commissario (Detective) Guido Brunetti as he chased murderers down the Rialto in Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon and was privy to the most lyrical prose as I used Valeri’s A Sentimental Guide to Venice, even more special since I managed to find an 1955 edition printed in Italy in a small bookshop that set me back a thumping 25 Euros. No surprise then that I keep this one close to my heart and NEVER lend it. In this series I will talk about some of the books that have been invaluable guides to me as I navigate foreign roads that go ever on and on…

My guide to Shanghai

Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong

I picked this book up at the Shanghai Museum in People’s square when I felt that the my Lonely Planet was falling short in introducing me to the magnificent city. Inspector Chen is Inspector Dalgliesh’s (see The Lighthouse) brother from another mother in that he is an erudite workaholic who spews poetry at the drop of a magnifying glass and draws no line between his personal and professional life. No surprises there. When he finally decides to take a sabbatical to write a dissertation on a strange concept called Thirsty Illness (because that's how these detectives relax), he is cajoled by the powers-that-be to drop everything and chase down a perplexing murder that is ruffling many a communist feather. The book is part of an acclaimed series featuring the insightful inspector and his sincere sidekick as they try deal with a society struggling to reconcile its newfound power with its old turbulent past. He often refers to his plight as, "One country, two systems.” Here you will get a primer on the Cultural Revolution that is everywhere and yet hidden behind crimson curtains, a glimpse into the eccentric food habits of eating twitching shrimp dipped in broth, a fantastic walking tour through the old city and the bund and the introduction to the man commonly known as ‘Mr Big Bucks’; All while you chase down the killer of a beautiful woman who wore a red mandarin dress. Mystifying sexual innuendos aside, it is a deftly woven novel that uses all the elements of criminal profiling that delves deep into the psychoses of this country's enigmatic social structure. Despite being driven to buy myself a cheongsam, I doubt I will ever be able to look at one or a monkey in the same way again.

Please write to us in the comments box below and tell us about your favorite travel reads. 


Buy Red Mandarin Dress from Flipkart.com 

Flight of the SatNav lady

No matter how many times I travel, I can’t rid myself of these bouts of paranoia. It's become a ritual for me to chew my nails, or the nearest person’s brains from the moment I wake up to the minute I receive my boarding pass.

Sometimes I go so far as to make a list of all the things that could delay my departure – traffic, taxis, breakdowns, cows – usually, this actually helps me strengthen my backup plan in case these calamities strike.

But on a recent trip to Germany, I didn’t quite anticipate the most terrifying catastrophe of them all – the SatNav lady. Let me just point out that if Google Maps is a dog, eager to please in any way possible, the SatNav lady is a cat. Go figure.

Anyway, we were to drive from Dilligen, an hour and a half from Munich, to Frans Josef Strauss airport. We got as comfortable as we could -- four adults with four large suitcases, two small carry on bags, not to mention backpacks -- when the following happened:

Please turn right and then take a right again.

Fair enough.

Please turn right (again) in 100 meters.

Are you sure?

Please turn right.

If you say so.

Please take a U-Turn if possible.

But you just said…

Please take a U-Turn if possible.

Well, you are the expert and I don't really have a choice, so...

Please turn left.

But that’s taking us back to the hotel.

Now, turn right onto the A8 to Munich.

But we haven’t even gotten out of Dilligen yet. We're not from around here but even we know that’s not for a couple of miles.

Please take a U-Turn if possible.

I don’t think she knows where she’s going. Somebody summon Google Maps… NOW!

Prepare to reach a dead end.

But.. I'll miss my flight! I need to sign into work tomorrow morning… I’ll loose my job! What did I ever do to you? *bawling inside my head*

In that case, drive on for a 100 miles and THEN turn right onto the A8 to Munich.

 Thank you. Thank you so much. How can I ever repay you for doing the job for which you were invented?

150 Miles Later

You have reached your destination.

Wait! This isn’t the airport. It’s the autobahn and no one seems to be going anywhere below 200 kmph. Damn you SatNav lady!!!!

(Some of the above might have happened inside my head)