I haven’t done much writing in the few weeks I’ve been back from India, but I have been busy. Following the advice of my enthusiastic agent, I’ve reworked the proposal for the ‘walls’ book a few times. As I write this, the proposal sits on the desks of publishers in Canada and the US while […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Home
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
After a delayed flight out of India, then not finding a stand-by seat out of London, I finally made it back to Calgary on Saturday. I was welcomed by the warm arms of my wife and the icy embrace of a Calgary cold snap. It was nearly 30 degrees when I got on the plane […]
Café moment
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Yesterday, as I was reading in a Starbucks-clone café, the man sitting at the next table removed one of his sandals and began caressing his bare foot while whistling ‘My Heart will Go On.’
November
25
Photos of Srinagar
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Since it has been a while since I’ve posted any photos – and since I seem to be scamming someone’s wireless signal in my Delhi hotel room – I thought it a good time to add some visuals. All these photos are from Srinagar, the largest city in the Kashmir Valley. (The man in the […]
November
02
The Archers of Shillong
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Here are some photos of the daily archery stakes in Shillong. Archers fire arrows across a pitch at a tiny bamboo cylinder while on-lookers lay their bets with bookies around town. Tomorrow I am on my way to the villages along Meghalaya’s border with Bangladesh. It will be a fascinating trip. The fence that India […]
So Happy This Didn’t Happen to Me
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
(I don’t know if I am allowed to just cut and paste stories from The Globe and Mail onto this blog, but I can’t resist posting this one.) TRIPPING: RIDING THE RAILS IN INDIAFlush from embarrassment RITA PARIKH Special to The Globe and Mail October 18, 2008 It didn’t come crashing to a shrieking halt. […]
October
15
Painting the Walls in Mumbai
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
“My friends drool over guys. They drool over cars,” said Dhanya Pilo as we walked along Chapel Road in her neighborhood. “I drool over walls.” Meeting Dhanya and writing about her Walls Project are the primary reasons I am in Mumbai. It is an interesting story. Last year, Dhanya had just finished an internship working […]
In the Maximum City
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
I am finding it hard to know what to write about Mumbai. This is a city, after all, that has been so well-served by writers far better than I am. And one of them, Suketu Mehta, encapsulated Mumbai in two words: ‘maximum city.’ I didn’t know what to expect here. Everyone I know who has […]
Literary Gluttony
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Anyone else getting tired of food writing? I started my freelance career writing about food. A fabulous little bi-monthly food magazine in Calgary called City Palate published my first paid article, an account of my time in Mali’s Dogon country drinking millet beer with locals. I went on to write about a dozen or so […]
August
08
Cheap Books
posted by Marcello Di Cintio
Hello all. It was one of those moments that eventually humbles all writers. I recently discovered that the hardcover edition of my last book, Poets and Pahlevans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran, has been remaindered. This means that it will soon appear on those bargain tables in front of bookstores alongside back-issues of […]
Elsewhere 