tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36148601486153279682011-11-28T05:44:01.675+05:30Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.comBlogger131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-3733823768338554292007-11-11T02:25:00.001+05:302008-03-17T02:23:06.917+05:30

I often wonder if I will ever feel settled. I quite fancy staying in London for a good three years now (my idea of ‘settled’) but I do catch myself thinking about living in Manhattan or in Italy again or somewhere new altogether – like Australia or Japan. No, I take that back, not Japan -- too foreign.Even though I’m a little tired of being on an airplane every weekend, I’m already thinking of

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-40282481552834417572007-11-05T21:30:00.000+05:302007-11-10T18:09:21.424+05:30

This last weekend in India was one of firsts. First train trip in India – and overnight at that! First visit to a hill station – I’ve been hearing about them since I arrived (Darjeeling, Ooty, Munnar), they’re just a little hard to get to and back from on a weekend. Most importantly, first weekend with an Indian friend! And most unfortunately, first weekend without my camera (Google Images to the

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-34712954328612295002007-10-30T20:53:00.000+05:302007-11-05T22:46:45.558+05:30

After travelling with company for so many months, I’d quite forgotten how simultaneously luxurious and daunting a solitary weekend in a foreign pocket of India can be. Of course, I leave on the usual flight – inhumane a.m. on a Saturday – and as I stumble down the pitch black flight of stairs and bang on the car window to wake the dozing driver, I am excited about 3 things:1. going to Varanasi2.

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-24915452601617319252007-10-20T15:28:00.000+05:302007-10-20T17:41:55.571+05:30

Most visiting India on holiday will spend a fair amount of time in Rajasthan, but as I am based in the south, this north Indian state – known for its sweeping deserts, majestic architecture and colourful, chaotic bazaars – has somehow eluded me.With four weeks left in India, I’ve finally got plans to see a bit of Rajasthan. I arrive in Hyderabad from Thailand at 11pm on Friday night, and at 6am

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-16480921184816103542007-10-13T17:39:00.001+05:302010-05-22T21:48:20.531+05:30

There’s just something about the toilets in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi’s airport that make me breathe a deep sigh of relief. Spotless floors, plenty of loo roll, hooks on the door for your handbag, rubbish bins in every stall, sensor-activated taps. I reckon I could eat straight off the floor and not get sick. In short, pure hygienic bliss.And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! But before I get into

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-10152872510435649972007-09-24T21:30:00.000+05:302007-09-25T00:55:23.124+05:30

I leave sunny Mumbai, where I celebrated Rosh Hashanah with the B’nai Israel Jewish Indian community, on a Friday afternoon and land in rainy, cloudy Goa one hour later. The weather’s somewhat disconcerting, as Goa is all about palm trees & beaches, but either way – I am looking forward to a quiet couple of days.In the car on the way to Anjuna, the driver reassures me that we’re in for a sunny

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-70281388251772733772007-09-01T19:12:00.000+05:302007-09-01T23:29:04.574+05:30

Bangkok may be easier to get to from Hyderabad than many an Indian city, but that’s only after you’ve made it into Hyderabad’s international departure terminal. With our flight due to leave at midnight, Eimer and I arrive at the airport at ten and quickly realise that getting inside is going to be a challenge. The place is heaving with people and after rolling our cases over countless of their

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-88672100710913599422007-08-24T00:57:00.001+05:302007-08-24T19:23:21.362+05:30

The polar opposite of Calcutta, languid Kochin takes me back to the colonial comforts of Pondicherry. Darling Dutch guest house, sparsely populated roads, slightly overgrown tropical vegetation - and the hardness I’ve developed to survive the chaotic city centres of India is in for a restful weekend. Kerala, the southern-most state on India’s west coast, is not only foreigner-friendly but also

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-85736860132107758172007-08-15T22:05:00.000+05:302007-08-15T23:12:17.187+05:30

In India, it is a widely known fact that there are more millionaires in Mumbai than there are in New York. And nowhere else in India is the disparity between rich and poor so stark, so gaping. Bombay, with all its glitz and glamour, is also home to some of the largest slums in Asia. Of course, the slums aren’t quite on the tourist beat, but one nevertheless gets a sense of the dire poverty.

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-24333896273303703402007-07-24T00:29:00.000+05:302007-07-24T04:24:38.307+05:30

The drivers in Hyderabad are no match for their Calcutta cousins. In the pre-paid taxi from the aiport to the lovely fairlawn hotel we very nearly kill someone (in all seriousness). I wonder what would have happened had we done so? I can't imagine the driver would have done anything but drive on. With all the people in Calcutta, cars in Calcutta, reckless driving in Calcutta, one gets the

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-19042637259451151782007-07-09T19:53:00.000+05:302007-07-10T02:30:40.521+05:30

Every morning when I leave my apartment to go to work, I step over a stack of freshly delivered newspapers. And every evening, when I return home, I find the papers neatly laid out on the coffee table, staggered just so. Kamala, the housekeeper who barges into my room on Saturdays at noon with an exasperated, "Clean room, madam?" takes care to ensure the title of each publication is visible.

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-50791011953773672562007-07-01T22:58:00.000+05:302007-07-03T07:44:30.442+05:30

I thought the expatriate community in Florence was small but good god does Hyderabad give me new perspective. There seem to be a good handful of clubs and lounges but the 'going out' contingency is only so big as to keep a limited number of them 'happening' on any given night. Of course this contingency comprises both expats and locals, but the locals are of a very narrow stratum: not only very

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3614860148615327968.post-70551671434712701912007-06-25T22:11:00.000+05:302007-06-29T01:03:04.714+05:30

Fully intending to visit the Taj Mahal to inaugurate my 6 months in India, I wonder what led me instead to Pondicherry, a relatively quiet seaside town, very much reminiscent of the French colonial outpost it once was. It's funny to think that having just left Europe, I instinctively sought out the most European corner of India to initiate my grand tour (work weeks; travel weekends). Lonely

Tovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13041131462225014622noreply@blogger.com1