My green oasis

An indie lounging in a planter is unfazed by the waves on Dana Pani beach in Madh

Travel time with Pallavi Aiyar

PIC COURTESY/A SUITABLE AGENCY

Writing a memoir can be a life-changing experience, they say. And with author, columnist and foreign correspondent, Pallavi Aiyar, it is no different. Travels in the Other Place (Tranquebar) is her memoir written in eight acts — each one is a travelogue exploring thematic journeys. “I have been crossing borders — literally — for 25 years now. This book is about taking some of the insights gained from this peripatetic life and applying them to other boundary-crossing life journeys —  to do with identity, parenting, illness and so on. Every person’s experience of the world is particular, but this specificity only becomes obvious when another way of being is accessed as a point of contrast. The greater the variety of lenses we acquire, the more skilled we become at embracing a range of perspectives, be these the norms of Japan or Mandarin or Cancer or Loss,” she explains about this journey in her memoir.  Consulting editor, A Suitable Agency, Ranjana Sengupta shares that Aiyar’s upcoming book blends memoir, philosophy and travelogue, and “Is an insightful, witty and deeply humane meditation on what it means to move — physically, culturally, emotionally — through a world in flux. Her curiosity, her sympathy and her sharp, clear sighted gaze on themes as diverse as Hair, Cancer and Passports, makes this one of the most interesting and wise books in recent times.”