An Ordinary Traveller

It has taken me almost 6 years to read this book! I was two weeks old in Delhi after my return from the Middle East when I bought this book from Midlands in South Ex. The cover and the blurb appealed me. It’s after 6 years that I realize it has some good content.

This book has an account of the author’s travel to places within India, Burma, and Nepal.

Kunal has described in detail, and in a captivating way the Pokhra-Jomsom or the Apple Pie Trail trek in Nepal and his Cat-man-dou trip, particularly about Thamel and the umpteen eateries there. There’s also mention of the Nyatapola temple which was built to honor a tantric goddess siddhi lakshmi. The temple doors are always locked because the goddess is so vague, it has no devotees.

In ‘Of Monks, Dictators, and Karaoke’ he shares the AIDS awareness, rather the lack of it, which the junta [of Burma] and public have:
· AIDS – you only get it if you have sex with someone whose blood group matches yours!
· The Central Health Education Bureau had published a poster with two school boys fighting, with blood oozing out of one of the boys’ head. Kunal asked someone for the translation, and was shocked to hear that: “Do not fight amongst yourselves, lest blood spills, intermingles – leading to AIDS.”

An easy read leisure book, which is not so invigorating at times, especially with detailed descriptions – just like Hardy describes Dorset locales.