Chindu Sreedharan - Etic (Page 4)

Vigeland bronze of a man holding a figure upside down, above a pond and autumn trees in Oslo

No one was roasting reindeer in Oslo

A guy I know well at work has been selling Norway to me for years. Our conversations often go like this.

Floodlit spires of Prague's Týn Church at night rising behind a gabled building

So pigs have knuckles

I had never thought deeply about pork knuckles before I arrived in Prague. I never had to. Do pigs have knuckles? Golly. Do they punch each other?

Coast path along pale limestone cliffs above a churning blue sea on a clear day

By the sea, on a winter’s morning

How do you capture the sea? How do you capture her sight, her sounds, her smells with words, in mere strings of alphabets?

Red sandstone cliffs curving round a bay, with reddish shallows meeting blue sea

Along red cliffs bitten away by landfalls

So I walked on, the sun in my eyes and the sea on my side, along red cliffs bitten away by landfalls old and new. In places the path veered very close to the edge and you could see cracks in the dry earth.

Illustration: a dark, snarling giant swings a fist at a crowned warrior on a red patterned background

The killing of Keechaka

An excerpt from Epic Retold

Small business jet flying against a dark, cloudy sky

Like Tom in Top Gun with a hint of Clint

Anyone who has ever passed through an airport anywhere in the world has witnessed the swagger of the pilots and the sashay of the stewardesses.

Aerial view of people walking a seafront path between red sandstone cliffs and the sea

A short history of rambling in England

I know no easy way to break this news gently to my English friends, so I am going to come out and just say it: you are more indebted to the Americans than you are aware of.

Low-angle selfie of a hiker in a bucket hat and sunglasses against a blue sky

An Indian’s incredible journey into the English psyche

Walking is the second favourite pastime in England (the first is queuing, of course). Only here have I seen people go trudging across muddy fields on the most miserable day and coming back exclaiming, “Ooh! That was lovely!” It is astonishing.