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Happy Republic Day
It's been almost 4 months since I wrote here. That's primarily because I blog almost daily on http://ajayinbombay.blogspot.com/Read more... ) -
The Vietnam Chronicles: Where Religion and Communism Mix
It doesn't look like the Vietnamese Communists adopted Stalinist measures. The deeply religious Vietnamese, mostly Buddhists, have guarded their religious values. Saigon has some majestic Chinese Pagodas and the famous Mariamman Hindu Temple. There's a spiritual sanctity about these temples ( Read more... ) -
The Vietnam Chronicles: The bikers of Saigon
In the 1990s when Vietnam was just opening its doors to the outside world, international television beamed images of bicyclists. Saigon was full of bicyclists and there were hardly any public buses leave alone private cars ( Read more... ) -
The Vietnam Chronicles: Homage to the defenders of the country
A people as gentle and kind as the Vietnamese have had to fight off invaders for centuries. Wars with China were common throughout the centuries but the most difficult period for Vietnam started with the French occupation of the country. From then onwards, the Vietnamese fought an unending number of wars that culminated with the fall of Saigon in ( Read more... ) -
The Vietnam Chronicles: To a far away land
It wasn't too long when Vietnam and all of Southeast Asia seemed quite a distance away from India. Flight tickets weren't cheap and there weren't too many connections. Visas were hard to get to many of the countries. All this dramatically changed in 2004 when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee took the initiative for an open-skies policy ( Read more... ) -
Dalat Beauty
It was a rainy day in Saigon and as usual I was lost in a new city. Drenched and clueless about my whereabouts, I was calm. It was at that moment that a beautiful girl came up to me and asked me whether she could help me ( Read more... ) -
From the Secret Scrolls
"Do not worry at all about negative thoughts, and do not try to control them. All you have to do is begin to think good thoughts each day. Plant as many good thoughts as you can in each day. As you begin to think good thoughts you will attract more and more good thoughts, and eventually the good thoughts will wipe out the negative thoughts ( Read more... ) -
Hidden-away beauty
There is a lot of beauty in this country tucked away in corners and hidden in the rush, crowds and disorder. While walking from Bandra station through the crowded Hill Rd, the sight of one pretty building never ceases to make me happy. It's an old house that definitely predates independence ( Read more... )
