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Travel, conversations and learning – How being part of conversations can shape your educational/ professional future
We often think of travel as movement. Physical movement to see people, places or attend events. But have you ever considered travel as a conversation? A conversation to enter a new space, a new way of thinking and new way of experiencing life? This is what I realized during my recent trips with my students.…
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How to travel like Ibn Battuta?
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Is the global chai shop out of currency?
I wrote this three days ago, at Jeddah Airport, waiting for the connecting flight to Chennai. Half awake and half asleep, I am conscious of the hundreds of people around me – possibly thousands, who are anxiously waiting to leave the Airport and reach their destination. I see a fleet of Saudi Arabian Aircraft waiting…
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Ibn Battuta, Malcolm X and the tradition of student travelers in Islam
Rihla, or traveling to seek knowledge is an Islamic tradition, whose roots extend as far as the Prophet Muhammad himself, who prioritized learning and knowledge. His famous Hadith “Learning is from the cradle to grave” has inspired billions of people to travel, seek knowledge, over the last 1400 years of Islamic history. This tradition of…
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Travelers’ tips from Ibn Battuta – A fourteenth century itinerant traveler
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Are the Saudis getting something right?
Are the Saudis getting something right, in terms of their foreign policy, both in the MENA region and around the world? Or is it all a big mess, much like American foreign policy in the region? In a recent article in the TIME magazine, Farid Zakaria[i] pointed out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s foreign…
