The South Orissa to Karnataka
Of all of India, the south was by far my favourite region. Hard to explain why. Maybe the same reason as that which has kept me confined to the south of india: a hotter climate, more suited to my skin and bones born and acclimatised to the heat of the tropics; and a rice-based diet, which suits my gluten-intolerant stomach more than the wheat-based cuisine of the north does. There might also be something in the fact that the majority of Singaporean Indians (58%) are ethnic Tamils, a fact most evident in Singapore's style of Hindu temples. Much of what I encountered in the south was reminiscent of my birthplace, Singapore.
Temple at Bhubaneswar
One of the many temples in the 'temple town' of Bhubaneswar in the state of Orissa. The beehive-like sikhara is a distinctive feature of temples here.
Arjuna's Penance
The largest bas relief in the world, located in Mamallapuram (Tamil Nadu), depicting the Arjuna's penance to the god Shiva. Measuring 90 feet long and feet high, it is carved onto the face of a boulder that once formed part of a large cliff face. Also known as Bhagiratha's Penance and Decent of the Ganges.
Brihadishwara Temple interior
A man reading in a courtyard inside the Brihadishwara Temple at Thanjavur.
Temple gopuram
A temple gopuram, an ornate decoration over a temple entrance, in the Dravidian (southern) style, at the Sri Meenakshi temple in Madurai.
Kerala's backwaters
An island in Kerala, seen during a cruise through the kuttanad (backwater) disctrict.
Kathakali
A performance of the song-drama Kathakali in Kerela.
Gomateshwara
A statue of Gomateshwara, son of the first Jain tirthankara Adinatha, standing on Indragiri hill at Sravanabelagola. According to Jain wisdom, we live in an age of decreasing purity, in consequence of which the stature of man is also decreasing. In the time of Adinatha and his son, Gomateshwara, men were giants; hence the often grand scale of depictions of Jain saints and tirthankaras, the crossing makers of the Jain religion. This one stands 17 metres tall.
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Delhi Deadlines by Sheldon Smith
A washed out journalist, posted to India to cover a bloody election campaign, uncovers truths about his son's life - and death - in the country, truths that test loyalties forged in the war zones of Bosnia and Rwanda. A fiercely evocative narrative of modern-day India, filled with the clamour and hot stinks of its capital, this is a novel of death woven through with life.
"The writing is very very good... the mysteriousness of Wyndham's death and the narrator's involvement will entice the reader to keep reading." - 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Expert Reviewer
