‘Going Down’ & ‘Garam Masala’

In my latest book Beyond Borders: conversations across boundaries, there is a suite three stories about Timor L’Este. Some elements in these stories are a little confronting. In the interests of relieving the tension for readers so once readers I decided to use a light tone for the two following stories.

Going down is a story about an encounter in the lift. Living in Singapore one becomes most accustomed to short conversations in lifts, it’s an aspect of Singapore’s culture. Conversations are usually very brief, mostly polite chat, sometimes a little deeper but always short.

Garam masala is a confrontation with the reality of cooking. Many of us stick closely to the instructions in cookery books, particularly when entering new or unfamiliar culinary, territory relieved to have a guide. So it was when I decided to cook a particular curry for the first time. My recipe provided a highly specific set of ingredients in the garam masala, the spice base.