I was travelling to Madras (Chennai) last week via the Shatabdi, when my blackberry beeped. There was a mail in my inbox from a journalist from Midday, Sowmya who happened to find backpacker , the blog interesting and wanted to know if the person behind the blog was interesting enough to be featured in her paper. I replied instantly with my number and we spoke for a while, interrupted by a series of network issues . I rattled off , talking about my dreams and passions when she asked me if I had any goals or missions in mind. I hadnt thought of travel in that sense- but yes, there were loads of things that I wanted to do and was hoping I could do..I shared with her the trails , Arun and I run as part of  travelwise  some of my ideas that were in cold storage for a while and lo, she published them..I saw the online version today , thanks to blogger and cousin Aarti and was humbled to find that I was featured along with the renowned writers like Rolf Potts. There were far more determined vagabonds than me and after reading the article, I realized that it is high time I make my dreams a reality . In fact, I am working on them as I post this . If you are in Bombay, you can read the article in today’s Sunday Midday – page 28 , or you can click here and go to page 28 ..

And thanks for reading and following backpacker and helping me make my dreams come true..

Tranquebar or Tarangambadi as its called today was once a Danish colony , nestled in the Coromandel coast of India. Walking around the old fort, I could see the view of the beautiful beach from the windows. The fishermen had just finished their early morning catch and their boats bordered the shore..

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My tryst with Singapore has always been filled with tourist attractions. But this time, I was lured to Singapore by a sporting event . Sitting in the stadium and listening to the cheers that reverberated through the stands, it was amazing to experience the energy out here. The opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games that saw more than 200 countries participating was just about to begin. My goodie bag was filled with trinkets that added to the light and sound of the event .The performances were vibrant and the stadium cheered as the athletes marched on. The Olympics anthem was sung, as the torch was brought in on a float . Fireworks galore, the entire Marina Bay was bathed in lights and music.  

The settlement called Madras is very young as it celebrates its 371st birthday today. This settlement slowly grew over the 300 odd years adding villages , older than itself to its boundaries, growing into the metropolis that we know today. Nestled in South India and often dubbed conservative by those who are yet to experience the multi dimension spirit of the city, the story of Madras , the settlement started with Fort St George. Probably it started even earlier , 371 years ago on this day when the Britishers leased a piece of fishing hamlet and converted into their southern headquarters. Ive dedicated an entire post last year to the birth of this city, but today, I would like to celebrate by speaking about the oldest surviving monument in the Fort complex – the St Mary’s Church on Church Street.

As the sun streams in from the garden, you sit here for a while and imagine the days of colonialism, the era of Black and White towns , of Armenians, French and British ruling over the country .

Nicky Loh is a photographer with Reuters working in Taiwan, whose specialty is news, sports and feature photography, who’s interested in documenting traditional art forms such as Chinese opera.

On his employer’s blog, he writes of having had an assignment to cover the 2010 Taiwan International Tattoo Convention in Taipei which, while not newsworthy per se, offered him a good opportunity to produce colorful photographs.

He describes how he decided to set up an impromptu studio in one of the empty booths of the convention, and do portraits of women with fully tattooed backs.

Not only beautiful artwork, but also very attractive women…so a “twofer” as they say.

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One of my favorite online news provider is Global Post, not only for its cutting edge news reporting and analysis, but also for its frequent “off-the-beaten-path” features such as the one of Turkish transsexual brothels by Nicholas Dynan.

It also periodically publishes Full Frame which features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field (including myself).

The Turkish transsexual brothels which, we are told, can be located in the busiest streets of Istanbul, and where are the work place of some of Istanbul’s transgender and transsexual sex workers.

To the best of my recollection, only one attendee of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul last June presented work relating to transgender issues. Pedro Gomes, who attended my multimedia class, produced Esmeray, an audio slideshow about a transgender feminist-sex worker-actor.

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I spent a couple of hours with Dewa Yoman Sanat; a traditional salt-maker (or more accurately, salt gatherer) in Kusamba. He guesses his age to be close to 70, and he works at gathering salt everyday under the scorching sun. On cloudy and rainy days, he remains home as a hot sun is needed to evaporate the seawater which leaves a thin film of salt, which is then gathered by Dewa.

He and his wife, Jero Sekar, who also helps him in this back-breaking work, have 7 grand children…none are understandably interested in continuing the salt making tradition. Dewa said that he gets about Rp 5000 (about 50 cents) for every 10 kilograms of salt.

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The New York Times has recently featured Tyler Hicks’ compelling photographs of the disaster in Pakistan’s Floods, as the one above of two young girls quenching their thirst at a water pump in Sukkur. It’s said that 20 million people have been affected by the floods; a number of people equal to the population of New York State.

According to the New York Times, a joint study from Ball State University and the University of Tennessee, puts the total cost of the flood damage at $7.1 billion. That is nearly a fifth of Pakistan’s budget.

I sense an apathy amongst the Western and Islamic nations to assist Pakistan in its difficulties. Is it because of the widespread perception (or knowledge) that the Zardari’s government is riddled with corruption and cronyism, and thus may divert some of the aid? Or is it Islamophobia? Or is simple donor fatigue after Haiti? I tend to think it’s all of the above and perhaps more.

And while I’m on the subject, is it only me who now increasingly relies on foreign cable news like China Network Television (CNTV) and RT (the Russian 24/7 English-language TV) for in-depth international news??? The added bonus of course is that these stations have no interest in Glenn Beck and the repellent clowns of his ilk as does CNN, MSNBC, et al.

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The Tiziano Project presents the journalistic efforts and personal accounts of Iraqi citizens living in the Kurdish north, along with stories produced by their professional multimedia journalism mentors.

An extremely well-made multimedia project, it includes stories such as those on the Yazidis, nomadic mountain-dwelling Kurds, a pigeon keeper, a muezzin, a klash maker, and many more.

The mentoring team consist of Jon Vidar (one of the talented instructors at the Istanbul Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and a freelance photographer who developed self-assigned projects spanning six continents, including work in Iraqi Kurdistan, Southeast Turkey, Rwanda, and Brazil), Victoria Fine, Grant Slater and Chris Mendez.

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