Popagandhi

Hello.

My name is Adrianna Tan. I live in Singapore, most days, though I’m quite happily at home in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Krabi, Bombay, Bangalore and Kolkata too.

I hate flying.

Like everyone else I want to do the Trans-Siberian one day, but unlike most people I’m a big train nerd that’s already planned for all the epic train journeys, stage by stage. All fifteen of them. In my free time I memorize train timetables.

I need to be on the go all the time. This applies to most things in life that I care about.

I am not Indian, although the name of this blog, most of its contents, and most of my professional writing and photography, is dedicated to and inspired by the country I love. I count myself lucky the country mostly loves me back. I’ve been promised honorary Indian citizenship the moment some of my friends go into politics. I’m looking forward to it in case I ever want to live in Bhutan (highly plausible).

In June 2008, I went to El Bulli. The best thing about the experience, other than the food and the travel it involved, is how making it there sort of makes you feel like you can do anything in life.

I mostly work for myself. My business is in words, pictures, the internet, and businesses on the internet. I work for myself so I can maintain the romantic childhood dream of working in any combination of the following ways: “scruffy shirt and still in bed”, “double shot espresso and wireless internet”, and “writing from the Third World in moving trains with an internet connection from my mobile phone”. I do all three regularly and can say with certain authority: this sounds better than how it works out, but it still keeps me going every single day.

Some time this year, I turn 23.