by Bernie Debusmann At first glance, the Indian city of Mumbai – or Bombay, as my wife constantly reminds me – is an odd place for an archaeological site. It is, after all, very crowded – more than 18 million people crammed into just over 600 square kilometres of space. It’s also a city that’s … Continue reading
Article and Photos by Bernie Debusmann and Sarakshi Rai Driving into Mumbai’s Malabar Hill area for the first time, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s an upscale area of no particular interest. India’s VVIPs live here, such as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state and the Chief Justice. But not far from the … Continue reading
I knew there were a number of separatist movements in India before we arrived. However, it wasn’t until after we’d been there that I realized how intense some of these conflicts are and simply how many of them there are. One estimate we were given indicated that there are over 300 different separatist movements in … Continue reading
Perhaps not surprisingly to those that know me, I found the military dimension to Arunachal Pradesh interesting. Tensions between India and China run high in this area… Currently, India administers all of Arunachal Pradesh. However, the Chinese lay claim to the majority of Arunachal Pradesh as they believe it to be an extension of the … Continue reading
Kali is perhaps best known now in the Western World for her role in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where Indiana stumbles across a Kali cult practicing child slavery, black magic and ritual human sacrifice… * Kali, whose name means “the black one,” is the Hindu goddess associated with time and … Continue reading
As I mentioned in the previous post on logging in Arunachal Pradesh, our purpose for being in the jungle in the first place was to accompany a tribal hunting expedition deep into the mountains. Well, this post is about that trip… As with the logging, the villagers are not supposed to be hunting in the … Continue reading
A significant source of income in many of the tribal areas of the Arunachal Pradesh jungle is derived from logging. This is a legal gray area. Technically, the jungle is a protected area. However, the villagers are grudgingly permitted by the Indian government to retrieve timber from the jungle for their own use. “Their own … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 