We are safe and well. You’ll know that Mumbai (Bombay) has been sadly rocked by several terrorist blasts and shootings. To save anyone from worrying about us, I’m queue-jumping the forthcoming posts that will shortly be published on India to let you know that we are currently–on 27th November–in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, the opposite side of this vast country. […]

I gather that the Western holidaymaker season hasn’t started in Goa yet; December and January are the busy months, by Indian standards. From taking to a few folks here, it also seems that the hippies have mostly moved on too. There are a few hundred Indian tourists, however, mostly down from Mumbai (Bombay) for their […]

I’m stood wearing my backpack staring into the mirror in the luxurious bathroom in my sister’s UAE apartment wondering, “am I ready to do this again?”. Later today, I will be leaving the UAE and flying to India. Alone. Claire left for the UK three days ago to help her soon-to-be-wed best friend, Naomi, choose […]

Across India, people are celebrating Diwali — the festival of light. Here in Jodhpur, the blue city, I gather that this has been translated over the years to mean that six year-old children let off impossibly loud firecrackers in the impossibly narrow streets; giggling in delight as tourists like me run for cover to lessen […]