There is a common geographical vocabulary in the straits settlements between Penang, Singapore and Melaka; Kuala Lumpur too shares the architectural grammar with the three cities. The Chinatown in Calcutta too was a part of the same entrepôt grid, as was Rangoon.

Migration is not an exception but a way of life in these cities. The digital nomads and labour migrants today are no different along a socioeconomic and passport spectrum.

Ramadan Bazaar, Masjid Jamek/ Jalan TAR

Vibrant sense of community, with families and couples out past midnight. Crowded and packed as a sardine but safe. Malaysia does it well.

The hardest thing for an entrepreneur is growth, there is no secret sauce to that. As a start up wala, I have helped start and scale professional services firms in Oman, Singapore, Malaysia with the latest being in India.

The joy of first Purchase Order is unparalleled.

Kedai Dobi.

The laundry in Malaysia is called Dobi, a clear loan word from Hindi. Indian Ocean Circulations in the quotidian.

I used to be based in the Gulf from 2017 till the pandemic hit. Oman is where I grew up, and has been an intellectual interest even now as I have done pioneering social impact assessments for infrastructure projects in the region. Stellar travel writer @wade_shepard visited Muscat in 2018 and we had a blast. He interviewed me for his YouTube channel documentary and a Guardian Article on Ad Duqm, where I have worked since 2014, including the recently inaugurated Duqm Refinery by His Majesty The Sultan of Oman and the Kuwaiti Prime Minister.

One does not necessarily need a degree in Middle East Studies to write on the region.

As Eid 2024 is around the corner here is image work from 2017 from Mutrah Souq in Muscat at Iftar time. The Mutrah corniche is magical, a space which defeats time.