Book review: Cobra Road, by Trevor Fishlock, ***

Synopsis

Trevor Fishlock set off from the harsh and haunted gables of the Khyber, zigzagged to the dazzle of India's southern tip at Cape Comorin and came at last to the little town called Cobra Road. Here, he presents his experience, the smell, feel and history of the subcontinent.



Review

This is a fairly typical jounalist's book. A good journalist for sure. It is full of sharp anecdotes and vivid vignettes of India's immense diversity.

It is also a very disorganized book, his personal explanations intertwined with more detached historical explanations, eyewitness accounts and stories he picked up along the way.

They style is uneven, at times fun and witty, at times rather boring.

All in all a book that I would recommend, even with the reservations above, especially for readers who have never been to India or read much about the country.

Read my other reviews of books on India here on this blog.

19. - 18 AUG: Flight back to Brussels and end of trip to Zimbabwe

Morning at leisure and transfer to the airport where out faithful KLM Boeing 747 is reassuringly waiting on the tarmac.

It is the end of another trip to Africa and again I am left with the desire to return. A trite, banal remark, but so true. More than that, I have an ardent desire to see a better Zimbabwe, one in which blacks don't have to regret having won their freedom because the previous racist regime ran things better. Zimbabwe is a rich country but its people are poor. Especially blacks. This need not be the case and hopefully won't.