My ebook: Journeys with the caterpillar

My ebook
"
Journeys with the caterpillar: Travelling through the islands of Flores
and Sumba, Indonesia
" is available at
this link


Saturday, February 08, 2014

World without cigarettes: Male bonding while travelling

In our present obsession with health, one of the great sources for male bonding is being slowly lost. Even a few years ago, travellers had obtained visit permits and all kinds of favours from stern officials and other strangers through the simple charm of a smoke. What does a nicotine-phobic traveller do to navigate his way around foreign hurdles? How does he make friends with other strangers in the most time-efficient manner?

Signs are disturbing as what is increasingly being used as a symbol for male brotherhood in the face of declining smoking habits is to show pornographic pictures and videos on mobile phones. From god-fearing Iran to remote provinces of east Java, I have felt the uneasiness of strangers trying to become friends with me over a clip of Jenna Jameson.

Extract from Journeys with the caterpillar: Travelling through the islands of Flores and Sumba, Indonesia

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