Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic crime fiction and reportage from Southeast Asia and beyond
Floating somewhere between the Hooghly River and Massive Attack, Tritha is a music ensemble from Kolkata. The band played a couple of shows at The Space in Bangkok last month and performed an exalted mix of Indian ragas and folk-ways shuffled around sensuously, with a dash of trip hop thrown in. Shades of Bjork and [...]
“Life is chaos, the world is chaos. The only constant is change. I like chaos and the way you position yourself in it. Where do we come from? What are we doing here and where are we going? We need to answer these questions to be free, to find our way. That’s what I’m doing [...]
Tom Vater reports on the world’s most expensive cuppa. Makaibari Tea Estates in Darjeeling have developed sustainable and biodynamic agriculture at high returns and plantation owner Rajah Banerjee is a true eccentric – businessman, visionary, environmentalist – who has elevated growing tea to an artform.
The plains of West Bengal stretch into a milky horizon. In May, much of the rice has just planted and the midday sun’s glare is reflected in the shallow paddies. Here and there, small clusters of mud and straw huts form tiny hamlets in an ocean of green. The Kanrup Express takes more than 30 [...]
“I have been in Sonagachi for 25 years. I rent this room for 114 Rupees a month. This is my home.” Champa Das has invited me into her home. Champa Das has been a sex worker all her adult life. Sonagachi is one of Calcutta’s largest red light districts – narrow alleys, lined with small ‘apartments’ [...]