Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
For The National Abu Dhabi on tiger safaris
Finding peace on the trail of the tiger Shoba Narayan Oct 16, 2010 It was, in the end, a media brouhaha, but it did crystallise our travel plans. Earlier this year, there were a series of reports stating that India was planning to phase out tiger tourism, something that the environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, eventually denied. Startled by the reports, I called Ravi Chellam, the Wildlife Conservation Society's director for India. He told me: "To say that tiger tourism is going to be banned from the core areas is plain incorrect as tourism was never allowed in core areas [...]
Newly Affluent Have Wool Pulled Over their Eyes
Newly affluent still have wool pulled over their eyes Shoba Narayan (Writer) Oct 17, 2010 My Chinese tour guide has not heard of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner. I am in Beijing and have just read the news in the lounge of the Fairmont hotel in Beijing. The tour guide who takes me to the Forbidden City is a young, bubbly lifelong Beijinger named Sharon. She has a two-year-old son and works part-time as a guide, she says in fluent English. She is 29, educated, clearly bright and throws out statistics with the virtuosity of an archer shooting arrows. [...]
US China relations
US and China must forge mutual trust to end currency war Shoba Narayan Oct 24, 2010 It was at the Expo 2010 Shanghai that I encountered Song Hongbing's bookThe Currency War. I was with a few Chinese acquaintances, introduced to me by mutual friends because they had access to the expo. Busloads of Chinese tourists were everywhere, led by loudspeaker-toting guides. People standing in the long lines that snaked around the hot pavilions created by countries including the UAE, UK, US, France, Canada and Denmark, had to wait for up to five hours to gain entry. For some reason, [...]
Tourist Traps
I'll buy my share of tourist tat, but skip the hard sell Shoba Narayan Nov 14, 2010 next previous The first time it happened was in Egypt. I walked out of the Pyramids of Giza, dying to buy a souvenir. My mother had specifically asked for a miniature sandstone pyramid inscribed with hieroglyphic writing. She said it attracted positive energy and wanted to keep it by her bed. I was determined to take one back for her, perhaps two. I wanted to buy several other souvenirs for all my friends. I was, in other words, an easy sale. The [...]
Master Bazaar Economics
Master bazaar economics and drive a hard bargain Shoba Narayan Oct 31, 2010 next previous I am driving my Scorpio van with two kids and a Labrador in the back. At 7am, Bangalore is cool and quiet, its roads devoid of traffic. I am antsy because I am late dropping off the kids at school for a competition. My eyes dart to the clock, and boom … my car brushes against another that is pulling out of a parallel parked slot. The encounter is shockingly loud. I stop and get out of my car. The other driver walks up. [...]
Obama and Singh
Obama and Singh meet at crossroads Shoba Narayan Nov 7, 2010 Pity Barack Obama. The President of the US is in India for his first visit and expectations, in terms of symbolism and substance, are sky-high. "Great Expectations to end up in Hard Times," said the former Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh, borrowing the titles of two Charles Dickens novels. Mr Obama is visiting during Diwali, India's largest holiday. He is staying at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, the scene of massive carnage in November 26 last year; and visiting the ashram of his hero, Mahatma Gandhi. In [...]
Maids, Mothers in law, Chores
Maids, mother-in-laws and the Zen of housework Shoba Narayan Nov 1, 2010 It happens to me everywhere - from Dubai to Delhi, from Saudi Arabia to Singapore, from Bahrain to Bengal. Wherever I have lived, when a group of women converge, the topic somehow turns to domestic help. "My maid wants to go back home for her annual leave and my in-laws are coming over at the same time. I don't know what to do," someone will say and release the genie from the bottle. The complaints, and occasional tales of woe, will come pouring out. "My maid broke [...]
Middle Class Car Buying
India's middle class is entitled to cars its new money can buy Shoba Narayan Nov 21, 2010 Car sales are booming all over India. That's the old news. How to manage the upsurge? That's the future. Before I get to the numbers, let me get the questions out of the way: how much should a newly wealthy nation be allowed to flex its muscles? How does it balance the aspirations of a growing middle class as symbolised by buying vehicles with the havoc that 250 million vehicles can cause on traffic, infrastructure and the environment? Doesn't conspicuous consumption play a [...]
Spices Pepper McCormic
McCormick must work hard to spice up Indian market Shoba Narayan Nov 28, 2010 next previous Here is how we make garam masala seasoning in my house: we buy the dozen or so spices separately from a variety of different shops in Bangalore. The black, white and long peppers from MK Ahmed; the cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg and star anise from the wholesale spice purveyors near Russell Market; and the black cumin or shahi jeera from my friend Syed Ibrahim, who brings it all the way from its source in Iran or Tajikistan. We roast these spices separately, cool them [...]
Ratan Tata
The quiet man of Indian big business finds his voice Shoba Narayan Dec 5, 2010 next previous It was a cool day in the middle of last month when Ratan Tata, 73, the chairman of Tata Sons, the promoter company of the Tata group, India's largest conglomerate, dropped his first bombshell. In a public lecture, Mr Tata described his group's plan in the 1990s to start an airline in India in collaboration with Singapore Airlines. They went through three governments and three prime ministers for clearance with no avail because, he said, Tata were unwilling to pay a 150 [...]