Author: Chad Kohalyk
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Mumbai — Roads, Rails, and Water
Swallowing a malaria pill, I was enjoying the “inflight entertainment” of scores of seagulls flying alongside our ferry to Elephanta Island. The ferry was laden with Indian tourists going to see the “city of caves.” It took about an hour for the little boat to make the 12 kilometres to the island, puttering out from…
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Mumbai — Opportunity and Diversity
Andheri is a neighbourhood of northern Mumbai, just past the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, a beautiful wood-panelled facility where white paisleyed pillars gently swirl up to the ceiling covered in a pattern meant to resemble the feathers of a peacock, the national bird of India. I had been in Mumbai for four days and was…
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Kashgar, 15 years later
I have been thinking of this very impressive New York Times photo essay of Kashgar, and how it has changed in the 15 years since I visited. Kashgar is an old Silk Road city in the westernmost reaches of Xinjiang province in Chinese Turkestan. A friend and I had crossed the Taklamakan Desert on a…
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Black intellectualism and learning from Asia — a sort of review of The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time (1963) contains two essays. The first, a letter to Baldwin’s teenaged nephew, served as inspiration for Between the World and Me which I extolled not only for the content, but for Ta-Nehisi Coates’ inspirational writing skill. It is like a finger pointing at the moon, and I am glad…
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A quick end of year roundup
Last day of 2018. Only wrote 5 posts this year, but it was a big one for me since I took a big step up in my job and even took on a second job. Some highlights: taught 2 semesters of Computer Science as a sessional instructor at University of British Columbia (Okanagan) 👨🎓 though…
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Your life-changing books
Here is the concept: what books have changed your life? I am not talking about your favourite books, or comfort food books that you have re-read over and over again (ahem… Harry Potter series), or even books that you recognize are a masterwork (eg Invisible Man or The Handmaid’s Tale) and deserving of praise. I…
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From intergalactic villains to badminton
(The following started off as a tweet, which quickly developed into a tweetstorm, so I decided to move it to the blog, for this is where longer thoughts belong, right?) I have been trying to wean myself off of comicbook-based entertainment: Marvel TV shows and movies. I need to take a break from the bombastic…
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Calming on the surface – A review of Hawaiʻi
I stare at the waves. At 5am, while the kids sleep, I drink coffee on the 24th floor balcony afforded a spectacular view of Waikiki Beach. It is meditative. I breathe in the ocean’s breath on my face. I have just turned 40. The vast ocean is my lungs, the waves my breath, slowly undulating.…
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ALL of my nearly 5 years of real-world OGO carshare usage data
Periodically I have openly shared my costs of carsharing with our local OGO Car Share Co-op. This will be the last time, since OGO has joined regional carshare co-op powerhouse Modo. Although I love my OGO, I am really happy that this is happening. Congrats to the whole OGO team here in Okanagan, and I…
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A brief pause
It has been a couple of months since I have made an entry here — it is merely due to life keeping me very busy. I am working on some large projects at my day job (at which I was recently promoted to Director, Platforms & Technology), and in late December was offered the opportunity…