That popular bar game – I’ve Never – ought to be reworked, traveller’s style. For the unacquainted, the game goes like this: a group of people sit around, drinks in hand, and takes turns to say the one thing they’ve never done, e.g. “I’ve never had a threesome”. Everyone who has done that thing, needs [...]

So I’m in Goa. Yay. Lots of drinks, parties, and other fun things I can’t mention. But I’m in Goa in end May – not something to be happy about. It’s pre-monsoon, in the midst of summer, so the sun was pretty vicious for the first couple of days. How’s this for a change of weather? The [...]

Just because I’m away doesn’t mean I should pass up a meme – only that I do it much later. 1. At different points of my life I played First Clarinet, was a section leader, played First Trumpet, and also found time to sprint, try to be house captain, and debate too. I used to be [...]

Some quick calculations while on the auto-rickshaw from Madgaon to Palolem yesterday afternoon: between April 2005 to June 2006, I have travelled for more than 12 weeks, all in all. Let me be frank for one moment – I’ve never been too excited by Goa. It was always, yeah, okay. It’s got a great culture to [...]

Some random updates Quaint little vintage Parsi bakeries with fantastic apple pies and oat and raisin cookies, the cheapest and best biryani and chicken afghani downstairs from our hotel, watching the Arabian Sea from Marine Drive with random fashion photographers we’d met, meeting an array of fascinating people everywhere we go in Bombay.. I have eaten at [...]

Schedule Today: Udaipur Tomorrow morning: Ahmedabad Tomorrow night: Mumbai, finally Next week: Goa Popagandhi at the Railway Station Me: “I want a ticket, boarding at ADI up to BCT.” Officer: “Which train and class?” Me: “Can you check train 2010, CC class. Officer: “Sorry, it is WL50/WL29 for the 18th and RAC for the 19th.” Me: “Can you please check under the FT. And give [...]

The various train classes on Indian trains are a good indicator of several things. Travelling in Tier 3AC – sleeper class with air-conditioning, one can reasonably assume English-speaking Indians, who are businessmen or even doctors, and are likely to spend the train journey debating in English about the elections. It is also noticed that one [...]

Jaisalmer, and the desert Well, as of today, I can say with some authority: a cameltoe does not look like how it’s purported to look like. Another thing I can say with some authority: riding on a camel gives you kar chng tia (literally translated from the Hokkien as “butt pain”). Compound that ache on your bottom, [...]

To get a fucking err CF just after 6gb of non-stop shooting. Losing 811 files is one thing; teaching yourself a crash course in computer forensics for image recovery at internet cafes in India at Rs25/hr and 50.2kbps, is another.

Our rickshaw stopped at a traffic light, and just as Z. was thinking that she needed a new watch (hers just stopped), a man holding a handful of watches for sale came up to our rickshaw. On another occasion, I was having a miserable time in a train, thinking that I needed chai. At least 3 [...]