Not that diary

Reader Alert: Bite-sized posts are great for my time-starved friends, my family and the world in general. However, some experiences in life deserve more space. This time, I take a few paragraphs to share the story of a fascinating district in Hong Kong. _____________ An escalator. So what's the big deal? In the distant past, my commute in London often involved hurtling down the escalators of Tube stations. On some days I was even courageous enough to purposefully climb up the moving steps. It is common knowledge that the longest escalator in London (barring T5 Heathrow) is at Angel station. I have had many occasions to use it, not the least to visit  Sadler's Wells Theatre or to reach an erstwhile tea-house of interest (shout out to Mai Chai ).  On a related subject, one of my favourite pastimes when using metros in new cities, is to speed-read advertisements along the escalators. A few years ago I noticed that paper posters had been replaced by digital screens at many places...

There is the Bangkok that millions of visitors experience - ancient temples, the Grand Palace by the Chao Praya river, towering skyscrapers in Sukhumvit and alluring shopping malls that are designed in a manner that ensures swift entry and an almost impossible exit. The other Bangkok is a forgotten city of the past that thrived along its canal routes.  The modernisation of the 1960s led to a rapidly expanding road network some of which was built over long-used waterways. Slowly homes, offices, shops and much of the city's activity shifted along local and arterial roads.  Fortunately, some canals remained and others are being restored. Today life along the canal or 'khlong' displays a unique character. Modest, low-rise developments are interspersed with historic buildings and local buddhist temples.  Let's start with Pratunam Pier along Saen Saep canal. This is a major interchange that connects a few canal lines and is close to a large shopping district and a popular nig...

It feels like yesterday when we were in college and joking about Indian mothers force-feeding their children to eat fruit. " Beta, yeh lo fruit khao, fruit ". In the blink of an eye one realises that people do (scarily) become like their parents, or other elders in their lives. One must accept what one cannot change. So here I am, still writing paragraph after paragraph on the joys of discovering known and unknown fruits. For variety, this time I have added some juices and teas to the mix. Passion Fruit The modern world is such that we are more likely to have slathered passion-fruit fragranced cream on ourselves ( a la Body Shop ) than actually eating a passion fruit. Although I had tasted one before, I must confess the first time I actually sliced a passion fruit open was just a few months ago. After a few tasting rounds, I still consider them to be a bit too sour for my taste buds, and the seeds are too 'chewy'. Since the fruit has tonnes of health benefits, I shall...

In the early days, just like the fruits, the vegetable section of supermarkets continued to fill me with more questions than answers. The translation software on my phone was of little use, as many of these were labelled 'native vegetable'.  Eventually, I decided to chuck a new veggie in my basket each week and work out later what it was, and how best to cook it. Here is a small selection of the more unusual and the interesting ones. There are several I had seen before but never tried. Others, as I discovered in my online searches, were well-known in parts of India. I just hadn't come across them while growing up in Delhi, or my family had not experimented enough - an oversight they are now addressing as they regularly share their own funky recipes. Winged beans This is undoubtedly one of my favourite finds. I first tasted these in a delectable salad at an upmarket hotel in Bangkok. It was absolutely scrumptious and I confess, I have never been able to replicate that exact ...