Archive for July, 2008

Exposed in Mumbai

Posted by ewdialogue on Jul 18 2008 | From the field, General

by Sumeet Saksena

Sumeet Saksena in auto rickshaw with pollution measurement instruments.
The author carries pollution measurement instruments in a Mumbai auto rickshaw.

The driver of the auto rickshaw sure was puzzled when I instructed him to drive for half an hour along a busy road and then turn back to return to where we started. If he had any apprehensions about the strange devices that graduate student Chitra Murali of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, and I were carrying, he politely kept them to himself. (After all, in this day and age any small device kept closely to one’s body in public can raise a lot of fear). Perhaps he didn’t care as long as he got his fare. Or was his brain, after years of driving in a highly polluted environment, cloudy, as mine was beginning to get? Continue Reading »

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Tales of old Thailand and Japan

Posted by ewcmedia on Jul 03 2008 | General, Research

Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya

It’s the stuff of high adventure: Warrior kings, mysterious ships from far-off Japan, thriving trade across oceans and generations.

All part of the real-life tale of Thailand’s King Naresuan, who sat on the Thai throne more than 400 years ago when adventurous Japanese traders and samurai first settled in Thailand. And, you can read all about it in English thanks to Kennon “Ken” Breazeale, a projects coordinator at the Center. Here’s the story: Continue Reading »

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