What’s Hot

Yesterday afternooon we went on a city tour of Mumbai. Our first port of call was the Victoria Terminus railway station which brings in 7 million passengers per day. If I had time I would have liked to take an Indian railway ride as I imagine it’s quite an experience with animals, food bought [...]

Yesterday we left Jaipur at 5.45 am for Mumbai. We were told we would see the slums made famous in Slum Dog Millionaire and although I did see the customary hovels by the roadside my first impression was of a modern, thriving city of skyscrapers and office blocks. The traffic was horrendous but as [...]

We made an early start for the sightseeing tour of Jaipur. Inevitably our first port of a call was another red fort, the Amber Fort overlooking Jaipur. To reach it we we took elephant transportation, an experience I would wish to forget. Two of us rode side-saddle as the elephant lurched towards [...]

Three of the group made the 6-30 am trip to the Taj Mahal but one told me that, far from seeing the dawn change the colour of the dome, he could not see the top from the base such was the habitual morning fog. The rest of us chose to lie-in in anticipation of a 5 hour coach trip. Coach has the [...]

We left early at 7-45 am for Agra to see the Red or Agra Fort and Taj Mahal. Both were Mughal monuments built by Emperors as Agra was their seat of government. The fog covered the whole four hour journey smothering any view of the countryside. At Agra we experienced the first polarity of poverty [...]

Most of the party from London did not arrive till midday. However the smog and air purity – worse than Oxford Street – made our own tour in the morning uninviting so we waited for the afternoon one organised for the group. We saw some old faces from the Cape Town tour at the midday [...]

Looking back and over my life I have when forced into them made a series of successful judgements but equally have had a plotted course blown off track by what Harold MacMillan called “Events,dear boy, events” or as John Lennon observed “Life is what happens between events”. [...]