Policy Update

As regular readers may recall, the FoodScapes blog was born in response to an attitude that is steadily distancing us from our roots. Best summed up by the Hindi adage that privileges eating mangoes over counting trees, it embodies not so much a love of success as a contempt for all that is extrinsic to one's myopic objectives. The realm of food plays host to arguably some of the most virulent manifestations of this phenomenon - think faux-ethnic and other 'trendy' eateries intent solely on exploiting prevalent fashions to make a quick buck. In conscious reaction to this, this blog has set out to understand food in its larger frame of reference; it thus addresses not only the proverbial mango, but also the number of trees, the kind of trees, the location of the orchard, and all other such circumstantial details that impart meaning and context to the fruit.

I have come to realise that confining this blog to only food can be counterproductive. Some of my most interesting foodie adventures have occurred in the course of travel. And addressing just the food part in isolation from its larger background, namely my travel experiences as a whole, surely defeats the very purpose the blog was set up for! Take my recent trip to Kelantan in north-east Malaysia, the main cause of this present self-realisation. The deep impact the expedition had on me was due as much to its wonderful people, its culture, its way of life generally as to its food. Indeed, people, culture, and food intermesh so deeply and profoundly that it actually hurts to write about just one in isolation from the others. It follows naturally that the blog will remain meaningful only if I expand its remit to cover travel in general as well.

There is another reason for this policy change. A few months ago I acquired another camera, a DSLR this time. Pundits brand the Canon EOS 450D an "entry-level" model, but I strongly feel that's a load of hooey. Considerable differences exist between it and the next model the 50D, but upon close inspection these differences are what I consider peripheral to the core of photography, and certainly to the kind of photography I enjoy doing - people, travel, urbanscapes and so on.

Yet another layout redesign, within months of the previous one. I am very comfortable with the present one. True, it's a simple design, does not incorporate either the stylistic cues or the techniques I have devised over the recent months. At the same time, it is uncluttered, well spaced, and generally easy on the eye. I think I'll stick with this one for some time.