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capture-create · 14 days ago

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Black Ghosts: A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China by Noo Saro-Wiwa (Divya reads Asia #2)

I stumbled upon the audiobook on Borrow Box. I spent the last week listening to a Rushdie novel that trudged on and on, but this I heard in a day! Very enjoyable.

Noo is very cool and I aspire to be like her. Have an idea for a project, move to an unknown place for 3 months, and write a book so cool - it's informative and illustrative, I have a real picture of these streets and places in my head, so honest, about what she sees and emotions while she does her interviews and about how these lonely creepy African men treat her. Her intrigue, amusement and discomfort comes across in the writing. The Guangzhou city's chaotic yet highly effective wholesale markets made me think of Chandni chowk and Nehru place and agglomerations in India. I imagine them at an exponential scale. I wonder how I'd be treated if I walk around those streets and shops. I liked her reading the audiobook herself too, with the adaptive accents and notes. I hate clubs, but when she described the non-white cosmopolitan nature of one in Wuhan, I felt like I want to be there to see that. It reminded me of spending that half day in Istanbul with mum, thinking about the sheet variety of brown people of the world - something we never actually think about. The book also reminded me that I want to read the book -Globalization from Below: The World's Other Economy - The stuff I came across during my masters or around that time, thoroughly intriguing but I never got back to. I will also read/listen to the history of Asia I think, I know nothing beyond India and Pakistan.

What a lovely coincidence too, when I had 20-30 mins left of the book a post-crossing card arrived for me from a man Guangzhou! What a great card too - a home-map of China - with that bear in the bathtub and that panda on his study table, like I was when it came.

#divya reads asia #travel writing #reading #china

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capture-create · 14 days ago

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Kathmandu by Thomas Bell (Divya reads Asia #1)

I read this back in 2022, started on my first trip there. Oxbridge British guy decides to move to Nepal, scrambles around, discovers the chaos of the kingdom, becomes a long term stayee and journalist, correspondent to the big papers, marries a Nepali person and now has a family there. I wish I could live the life of a white-british young man, the confidence, the nonchalance, the access and identity and privilege, a does it even require bravery if path is not that tough? Do you think his parents would be disappointed he went into the liberal arts and didn't have a stable job? Anyhoo.

I really enjoyed the book. Understood so much about my friends and their identities too. The city Newaris vs. the mountain Khatris. It's been a while since I read the book but what remains in my mind are images of the coup, the royal massacre, him with the maoists in the forests, in the embassies, in the NGO circles, living in a dusty streetside flat etc. A bit about the 3 cities of Kathmandu, about the country having the highest FDI. Something about the Nepali Gorkha fighters the British had hired. The first western people who mapped the city, something about the tantric map of the city and him hunting for it around the city. Why the British didn't bother colonizing the valley, and a pot-pourri of information. I'm headed back to Kathmandu in a couple of weeks, for an Asian Studies conference that too - how apt!

#divya reads asia #book #review #nepal #kathmandu

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capture-create · 14 days ago

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Divya reads Asia

Project: I self-educate myself about Asia, particularly beyond India.

Why though?: ....well why not?

1. Found myself twice in one year (2022) in Nepal and was absolutely, pleasantly, blown away by it. Loved it and read about it. It's so interesting and so out of anything I would've learnt about without concerted effort. Even though I have friends from there, that language and way of thinking about our continent, as the western world is obsessed with themselves, just doesn't exit. On one hand, that's sad, on the other, that makes it more interesting to explore. I have new histories to learn and new presents to explore and cuisines to try and movies to watch and -read-.

2. Disillusionment with Europe. Because, it's over documented and analyzed and also, mostly, because I didn't feel welcome there.

3. ForCities: I, by chance, through the European graduate program, found these Japanese folk online, hoping to creating a community of Asian urbanists. I was very excited initially but didn't end up following through, as my efforts got directed to more income-making schemes and jobs. Also to a certain level I felt unequipped. I don't know enough about these places. I also don't have too many friends from there and hadn't travelled around. The community seems to be going strong in themselves though and it is there for me to reach out to when I have the capacity. For now, I'll read.

4. Travel! Spent so much of last year planning a Vietnam trip that didn't happen. Then suddenly got sent to Bangkok and had the best time. It felt way more inspiring than the pretty places in Europe did. People in the little conference were nice and kind too. I want to travel now, I've seen too many blogs, felt guilty, and then watched Wong Kar Wai movies and korean shows and read some graphic novels and loved it. Someday I'll spend a few weeks walking around Hong Kong and write about it. And some day I will have a proper snorkeling and diving Thai island holiday, now that I've learnt to swim. And I'll visit relatives in Singapore again, this time more aware. I will also get lost and find my way in confusing Chinese cities. For now, I'll read.

So what now?: I'll read and put reflections here on Tumblr. Just a bit of accountability - it's out there and no one actually sees it, so it's fit.

Let's get going!

#Divya reads Asia #reading #explore #asia #urbanism

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capture-create · 1 year ago

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