Apr 15, 2023
THE CITY OF ANTHROPOLOGISTS COCHIN IN KERALA
The Anthropologists of Cochin when was the last time you visited a town and ran ino a gaggle of anthropologists?? i am talking about the educated class of Cochin in…
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.
Mar 15, 2023
IF YOU ARE A FRQUENT FLIER, IT IS GOOD TO HAVE STATUS WITH YOUR PREFERRED AIRLINE. IF YOU DONT TRAVEL OFTEN, DONT WORRY
Since the post-pandemic rush to travel took us to busier airports and congested aircrafts, the idea of having a preferred status has come into focus and also to learn about…
Feb 15, 2023
A SLOW JOURNEY TO A JOYFUL DESTINATION. MIAMI TO KL VIA NEW YORK CITY AND TOKIO (AND JAKARTA)
Once you taste the benefits of higher levels of Frequent Flier Status, retaining it becomes a type of obsession. You begin to dream of impractical voyages and excuciating journeys and…
Feb 15, 2023
RABBI HAIM PINTO HAKATAN 1865 ESSOUIRA -1937 CASABLANCA GRANDSON OF THE RABBI HAIM PINTO OF MOGADOR
For people interested in Moroccan Jewry, the name Haim Pinto would ring a bell.. the revered Rabbi Haim Pinto lived in Essouira and is buried there. His grandson was also…
Feb 15, 2023
ESTABANICO OF AZEMOUR MOROCCO AND THE INDIANS OF THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA.. A FULL CIRCLE
I have been very fortunate to be associated with the Native peoples of the USA which is often referred to as Turtle Island. During my conversations with knowledgeable elders, they…
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…
Jan 15, 2023
I AM THE JEWISH MAQROLL. WELCOME TO MY MAGICAL WORLD
I am all alone in this house, the silence is so welcome. Most but not all, people in America are afraid of silence and they have to keep on chatting,…
Jan 15, 2023
MAJESTIC HOTEL IN TUNIS : A PIECE OF HISTORY TO RELIVE
A CENTURY OF HISTORY In 1913, when its construction was completed, the Majestic Hotel, then, unique Palace of the capital, was the property of René Kisraoui. Commandeered from November 1942…
Jan 15, 2023
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR AND IGNORE THE LISTS AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. .. CHUCK AWAY YOUR NEW YEAR LISTS, BUCKET LISTS ETC
One of the favourite pastimes in the western world is to predict the weather or repeat the drastic prediction made by slender, flimsily clad "certified meterologists" (whatever that is ).…
Jan 15, 2023
THE LONG BUT COMFORTABLE JOURNEY WITH OCCASIONAL STAIRS AT PARIS METRO FROM MIAMI TO QUIBERON
It was a good day to leave Miami. The food, the social isolation and the general dislike of Cubans vs Others, occasionally bordering on hatred was weighing upon me. Got…
Dec 15, 2022
GOOD BYE 2022 A YEAR OF GRATITUDE LET US FORGET GENTLY THOSE WHO CANNOT LOVE US
SONATA WITH SOME PINE TREES BY PABLO NERUDA PABLO NERUDA: Sonata with Some Pine Trees In the half-sun of long days let us draw our tired bones together let us…
Dec 15, 2022
YALDA THE LONGEST NIGHT . LET LIGHT TRIUMPH OVER DARKNESS, IN IRAN AND IN AFGHANISTAN ..INDONESIA ..THE LIST IS LONG
Tonight is 21 december .. it is the night of Yalda .. It is the longest night, full of darkness and this morning when young women went to their universities…
Dec 15, 2022
AN ANTHROPOLOGIST MOURNS PELE: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM GRIEF, AS INDIANS WOULD TEACH US
The watch on the wrist makes a ping noise, BBC notification: The football great PELE has died, aged 82 and the Israelite Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paolo, Brasil. Most…
Dec 15, 2022
LIVING THE FRENCH PARADOX, AN EXPLANATION
In 1991, Serge Renaud, a scientist from the University of Bordeaux, coined the term the FRENCH PARADOX, after noting the relatively lower rate of cardiovascular diseases among the French compared…
Dec 15, 2022
HALCYON. MEMORABLE TIMES BUT THIS MORNING THINKING OF MAQROLL OF COLOMBIAN WRITER ALVARO MUTIS
Alvaro Mutis was a Colombian writer of prose and poetry and a good friend of Gabo, a contemporary from Bogota, who also lived in Mexico as an exile during the…
Dec 15, 2022
HELP! NEED A PSYCHIATRIST TO CURE ME OF DROMOMANIA
I am absolutely in love with my language, once i realized its intricacies, nuances as well as its analytical nature and the abundance of words. There is word for it,…
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…
Nov 15, 2022
TOMORROW YET TO BE BORN IS A COLLECTION OF TODAYS NOSTALGIA.. AUTUMN LEAVES FOR PENELOPE, VIENTE ANOS ATRAS
I was still at university when I listened to a jazz pianist playing this melody Autumn Leaves Did not realize at that time, many years later I would be listening…