Jan 15, 2023
WHERE ARE YOU FROM ORIGINALLY? WHAT IS YOUR NATIONALITY ?
This is a question I have heard all my life. The divergence of my body (asian) and mind (post renaissance Europe) and soul (indigenous) confuses many who are used to…
Stories
Field notes from the road
Medicine, culture, travel, food, healing, and human stories from my archive. Start with a trail, search for a memory, or move by year.
Roads, meals, clinics, and human encounters.Archive into inquiry
These field notes are not only memory. They are the ground from which my new field inquiries begin.
The current inquiry follows one trail through the archive: food culture, metabolic health, Indigenous knowledge, and Suriname.
Jan 15, 2023
ALVARO MUTIS, THE TRAMP STEAMER’S LAST PORT OF CALL, MAQROLL EL GAVIERO JUDIO, SOY YO
I am writing this at a largely faded but glorious suite of a hotel built in 1914 in the French Art Nouveaux style in the city of Tunis which once…
Nov 15, 2022
GASTRONOMIC JOURNEY FROM COCHIN TO MIAMI IN 36 HOURS .. SPECIAL THANKS TO TRAVANCORE COURT HOTEL IN COCHIN AND QATAR AIRWAYS
I had an intense day in Cochin being with old and new friends both in Ernakulam and Mattancherry. and it was time to leave Cochin to get back to this…
Oct 15, 2022
EACH DAY IS A CHANCE TO BE REBORN. … CORTADITO AT A CAFE IN MIAMI AND THINKING OF IRAN
Thoughts while drinking Cortadito at Ricky’s Bakery in Miami, after a conversation with a friend in Vila Verde in Brasil Even if you have property (house, car and other intangibles)…
Sep 15, 2022
IN CUBA, PEOPLE STILL HOLD HANDS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR AGES .. IT IS NOT JUST FOR ADOLESCENTS
Yesterday I was enjoying my sunset walk along the Malecon, the seawall which is just few metres away from the flat where I stay in Havana. There were many people…
Aug 15, 2022
DO NOT SEARCH FOR PEOPLE TO MEET, THOSE WHO YOU NEED TO MEET WILL COME YOUR WAY, SAID MY MESKWAKIA TEACHER
My introduction to the world of Native American people propitiously began with the traditional tribe of MESKWAKIA and I have to be grateful to them, as I ended up dedicating…
Aug 15, 2022
CUBA AND MALAYSIA AND NOW IRAN SO MUCH OF MY HEART IS TETHERED TO THESE COUNTRIES ..
The morning was still young, a text message arrives from Kuala Lumpur, do you have time to talk? it said It was KO, the former Malaysian ambassador to Cuba. We…
Jun 15, 2022
AN ARCHAIC FORM OF EXCHANGE.. BUT IN THE NEW WORLD ON VIRTUAL COMMUNICATION
I have a certain fascination with the language that I call my own, even though millions of people speak it, with various adeptness around the world. Some wit had remarked…
Jun 15, 2022
TTHE PARADOX OF THE TIMES: ESCAPING FROM THE LAND OF PLENTY TO A POOR QUIET AND TRANQUIL COUNTRY
In Miami, it is not just the cars and other vehicles that clutter the air with the noise but more odious is the noise created by the thinking of the…
Jun 15, 2022
HOMELESS BUT UPPER CLASS… AND THE SONG BY FARAMAZ ASLANI AND BABAK AMANI YAR WHEREVER I WENT I WAS HOMELESS
Many years ago, the astute physician of south D akota who was also my friend, Dr Jim K, came to visit me in MIami and he made an observation about…
Jun 15, 2022
RUMI COMES IN AGAIN, WANDERS IN AND GOES OUT AND LEAVING FEW PEBBLES OF HIS KNOWLEDGE IN MY HEART
RUMI had entered my life at various stages..the last welcome for Rumi was in Kuala Lumpur when my good friend MYC gave me a copy of the book, The Gift…
May 15, 2022
IT IS WITH THE HEART THAT ONE SEES : TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT NURSES THAT I HAVE WORKED WITH AMONG INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
The Elderly Indian Nurse shuffled her small frame into the consulting room of a health clinic of a traditional group of Indians in the middle of nowhere (as the europeans…
May 15, 2022
JIM HARRISON AN UNSUNG AMERICAN WRITER . MERCI BEAUCOUP MES AMIS YVES ET MP EN BRETAGNE
In France intellectuals have a special place in the society. In my early days living there I was amazed that talk shows featured intellectuals inviting people into their homes for…
Apr 15, 2022
THE TRANQUILITY OF FORT COCHI . DAY 3 AT TOWER HOUSE HOTEL …
It was the day of excellence during the heavy rain on the part of the dentist who drove through the sheets of rain to attend to my teeth. Tonight would…
Apr 15, 2022
OH! SAUDIA. YOU HAVE A LONG WAYS TO GO BEFORE BECOMING A FIRST CLASS AIRLINE.. I MISS QATAR AIRWAYS
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE FLYING SAUDIA: I AM GLAD HE ALI AKBAR IS RUNNING Qatar Airways WITH HIS ASIAN CREW I have been partial to flying Qatar Airways ever since that…
Apr 15, 2022
JOURNEY AS METAPHOR FOR USA AND FRANCE .. A DIFFICULT JOURNEY IN TIMES OF BLUSTERY RAIN AND WINDS
Journey as Metaphor Journey as a Metaphor of Life in the USA and Europe I travelled from Miami Florida USA to Nantes France Airline. American Airlines. Score 2/5 Trains. RER…
Apr 15, 2022
FRENCH PARADOX EXPLAINED : A DINNER IN NANTES, FRANCE
FRENCH PARADOX EXPLAINED: IN ACTION IN NANTES, FRANCE AT RESTAURANT LA LOCA For people who are QUANTITATIVELY minded, they compare numbers to numbers and never about what makes the numbers…
Apr 15, 2022
THE DIRTY DOZEN: THE CONUNDRUM OF PROFESSIONAL ADVICE VS PESTICIDES AND WHAT CAN YOU DO ?
E very two years, a watchdog group of Environmentalist, gain the data from the US Department of Agriculture and USDA and publish a list of vegetables and fruits which have…