Looking forward: reflections from OTT’s regional editor for South Asia

This is an opinion piece, I wrote and was published in On Think Tanks. You can check this link to read the full article. https://onthinktanks.org/articles/looking-forward-reflections-from-otts-regional-editor-for-south-asia/

Poem on Loneliness

Another poem on my views on Loneliness was also published.

http://www.yoalfaaz.com/744/on-loneliness?show=746#c746

A Tale of Cities

An Article I wrote on my passion for collecting magnets was published in Deccan Herald. Check this link to read the same-http://www.deccanherald.com/content/487615/a-tale-cities.html

Beijing the Beauty

I was surprised and happy that I was invited to Beijing to present a paper at the Tsinghua University. This was my first trip to China. I had several apprehensions-people had warned me that the English language could be a challenge and being a vegetarian I may find it difficult to find “pure vegetarian food”. Of course the only solace is that I eat eggs, but did not want to project this as a preference. I went through all the formalities in office and received all the required documents. While I was planning the professional aspects of the trip, I also started planning the personal itinerary for the trip.

I had decided to stay back 2 days in Beijing post the conference. So I started talking to friends who had visited Beijing earlier. I took a lot of tips from them and planned accordingly. Then I conducted some research on the internet and jotted down things that would be of interest to me.  In all my travels, I am quite clear that there is a 2-pronged aim. One is to visit some of the places of tourist interests or something that was always on my bucket list. The second is to amble on the streets, tiny alleys with no agenda. This is mainly to understand the people, culture, traditions (whatever little I can).

Keeping the above in mind, I planned accordingly. Before I embarked on this sightseeing trip, I had a fantastic time with a journalist friend Feng whom I had established contact with, prior to my visit. She took me out to dinner to a vegetarian restaurant. The ambience was lovely, the menu card (I should rather say book) was even lovelier with graphics and a huge menu. With help from Feng I believed I chose “pure vegetarian” dishes. However, I think I ate fish which was supposed to be rice crispies!!

I then launched on to the solo touristic trip. With the help of one of the organisers of the conference, I booked myself on a coach to visit the Great Wall of China. This would be the second wonder of the world I would be visiting (the first being the Taj Mahal). I had to go to a meeting point from my hotel and it was an ordeal asking the receptionist to book a cab for me, due to the lack of English language at the hotel and lack of Chinese language from my side. Of course my experience in playing dumb charades and sketching came into use. I enacted walking up the China wall and drew the same to explain my requirement.

I reached the meeting point and Victor our guide came to pick me up. The journey was for about 1.5 hours.  This is where I met some Indians, Pakistani and tourists from other countries. Victor explained the tour and set the expectations for the trip, for the next few hours. On our way, we stopped at a small village (Huairou County) to pick up snacks, coffee etc. According to Victor, it was inexpensive to buy from the small shop than to buy at the Great Wall of China which would be far more expensive. 

Then we passed a village Mu Tian Yu where the government has encouraged local artisans to set up their wares and artefacts for selling. It is said that it mandatory that all tourists need to walk through the village street and pay a toll, which goes towards the up keeping of these artisans.

We continued our journey to the Great Wall of China. Apparently the wall measures up to 629 kms in Beijing alone and the official length is 21,196.18 km across the whole of China. History claims that small fortifications were built as early as the 7^th century. The wall also served as a defensive shield apart from being a corridor to transport goods for trading purposes. The wall is intermittent with openings to act as defensive barricade. Officially it is over 2,300 years old.  Once we arrived we purchased tickets for the cable car and were asked to choose number 14 which takes us right to the top and brings us down. It costed us 100 yuan (to and fro). 

The ride was awesome and it really made me and the other co-passengers admire the skills of the craftsmen who had built it without any modern technology or conveyance to carry the material where they had to walk miles and miles up the hill, and here we were traveling in a cable car to admire the same. I believe the wall has several memories. Along the wall are several arch gates which are built of brick and stone. They are cemented by a mixture made from rice starch which holds it fast.

The wall has several watch towers which served in identifying enemies and also in protecting the city. The steps are narrow and steep in some places. The walk on the wall is quite easy in most places, but it is a very long walk. I could only cover three towers and then returned to wait for Victor - our guide and co-passengers at the base. Talking off Victor, apparently all Chinese people have 2 names-Chinese and English counterparts. So Victor’s name in Chinese is actually Wu  (meaning victory). We then had lunch at Mr. Yang a small restaurant. The vegetarian meal we got consisted of boiled cauliflower with red chillies, tomato with scrambled egg, lettuce salad, aubergine and fish and chicken (which is considered vegetarian and of course I did not eat it).

We returned to the city and I visited the Lama temple with some friends (from India and Pakistan) I had met on the tour.  The temple was beautiful and the building and artwork of the temple is a combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.

We then visited the Silk market where we shopped a bit and went for dinner to Ganges (an Indian restaurant run by a Gujarati-Yogesh Patel from Mumbai).

The next day I decided to take it a bit easy and visited the Tianaman Square. It was initially built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D.- 1644 A.D.). History claims that this was the front door of the Forbidden City. It was used for celebrating ceremonial events and was meant for only the royalty. It is a well-guarded place with several security men placed all over the square. The entry to the mail square is free.

Unfortunately I could not enter the Forbidden City (also known as Palace Museum) since it is closed on Tuesday’s. However, whatever exterior I saw, was lovely and huge. It is said that the palace was the home for over 24 Chinese emperors from 1420 to 1911. The Palace is surrounded by a moat which is 3,800 metres long and52 meters wide.

One of the unique things I discovered in Beijing, was the number and different types of electric vehicles. The 2-wheelers would appear silently and if you are not careful bump into you and receive some swear words from the rider!!

Tips to Travellers:

ü  Research well before going to Beijing

ü  Contact people who have visited earlier for some guidelines

ü  Write down names of key destinations (perhaps along with some pictures) in Chinese and English

ü  Wear comfortable shoes since there is a lot to walk

ü  For vegetarians please equip with some pre-prepared food (and MTR ready to eat stuff)