Afghanistan, One Year After the Fall for Afghans, this was just another chapter of foreign intervention in the country’s long history of struggle, which has included colonialism, tribalism, monarchism, Communism and strict Islamic law. The Americans didn’t realize how fragile the systems they created were until it all came crashing down. ......... Before that day, Taliban fighters seemed like ghosts. I seldom saw them, but I always felt their presence. It was surreal to watch them rolling through the blast walls erected to keep them out and congregating under the graffiti left behind by American troops. ....... Nine months after their stunning victory and takeover, they are still struggling to shift to a governing, political force. ........ I found a country that continues to lack a functioning economy. Crowds of women wait outside bakeries for handouts. Men who once held office jobs must now sell vegetables at the market or peddle used goods to be able to buy a little bit of food to take home. Merchants have seen their customers dwindle as prices soar. .
Rude Food by Vir Sanghvi: City of joyful eating If you’re on a quest to find the best restaurants in the country, there is no doubt that Calcutta beats the hell out of most cities ........ The Bengali food at restaurants was mediocre: to eat well you had to go to private houses. ....... There was vaguely authentic Chinese food in Chinatown but the Cal Chinese were, after so many generations, more Bengali than Chinese. The food in Tangra was usually completely inauthentic, and later, influenced by Punjabi Chinese. ...... I ate in the streets where the food was always good and stuck to a few downmarket places, including Nizam’s and the other roll makers. (The roll is Calcutta’s greatest and most unrecognised contribution to our cuisine.) ......... Doma Wang is a Calcutta institution. Half-Chinese and half-Tibetan she serves what she calls Himalayan food. She is famous for her momos which have more in common with the traditions of her Chinese father than her Tibetan mother: translucent dim sum style skin and tasty fillings. Her father also left her his recipe for prawn balls, a sort of Chinese pakora that I found irresistible. Her Chili Pork is justly renowned (Gaggan Anand ordered it on his last trip to his city) but there was so much more: Nepali pickles with dum aloo, a deep fried Tibetan meat pie, chilli chicken and more. ........
