Food is one of the delights of India. Colour, smell, flavour, eating is an experience for all the senses. In Junagadh, we found two wildly different favourites. The Jay Ambe Juice Centre was a welcome retreat, a place to rest and watch India from a distance. Great for a fresh juice or a delicious milkshake - chikku, (sapodilla), valiyari (aniseed), kesar (safron), badam (almond) - we tried several. Three oblong tables fill one side of the shop. Long benches line either side of each table. If it's busy people sit wherever they can. It's a clean, breezy place with a front [View Full Entry]

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The driver revved, revved, revved the engine. 'And this thing has to go 200 km - I don't think so' said Jim. We were on private bus - Mahasagar Travels Ltd. - travelling from Junagadh, hopefully to Jamnagar. We moved about 200 m and stopped for another five minutes of serious revving. The whole bus vibrated. The window panes hummed faintly against the frames. Slowly, we inched forward and were underway. There is always a feeling of excitement setting off for a new place, a sense of anticipation, who knows what the journey and the destination will bring. Echoing my feeling, [View Full Entry]

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Diu is at the end of the line. This tiny (11 km by 3 km) ex-Portuguese island at the tip of Gujarat has a quirky charm and lends itself to lazy sand- and sunshine-filled days. Not quite a tropical paradise, but very nearly. Indian, but yet not, Diu has white-washed churches, catholic-saint-filled chapels, and colourful Lisboa streets with gaily painted houses. Our guesthouse is the gorgeous, white-walled Retiro Sao Tome, the five hundred year old St. Thomas' church. From our kitsch-filled mini-appartment with crocheted table covers and "Little Mermaid" curtains we look out over the churche [View Full Entry]

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Shatrunjaya is one of Jainism's holiest pilgrim sites. A mind boggling array of 863 temples perched on a hilltop plateau high above the gulf of Cambay. Three thousand two hundred steps lead to the top. We began to climb. Slowly but surely. Luckily there was plenty to distract us from our aching calf muscles and thirst. Donkeys being herded uphill, carrying paniers of water containers. Schoolkids in sunshine yellow shirts and navy blue shorts/skirts literally running uphill! Nuns dressed completely in white, carrying large wooden staffs, nimble and sure-footed, making their way downhill wit [View Full Entry]

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The Buildup.... wonderful! "We spend so much money on weddings", sighed Mr. Singh. He might also have said: energy. An Indian wedding requires stamina from all concerned. An unceasing stream of ritual, prayer, blessings, dance and music. For days, our guesthouse, Haveli Katkoun has been filled with song. Family members have arrived from all over India and a happy chaos has reigned. We are the only remaining paying guests - a tiny foreign enclave in a sea of Hindu ritual. Ladies begin singing at 06.00 each morning, accompanied by the beat of a drum. "They are giving thanks to God for [View Full Entry]

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Once in a while you meet someone extraordinary. Someone with such an infectious positive energy, that the only thing you can do around them is smile. Mr. Prakash Gupta - alias Kukki, is known throughout Bundi. He began talking as he welcomed us into his living room cum bedroom, pulling out book after book, he proudly showed us articles that had been published about him in German, French, Hindi and English, and a photo of himself with the President of India. His energy took my breath away, like a tornado he laughed and talked continuously. To Mr. Kukki everything is at [View Full Entry]

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Ranthambhore National Park was once the hunting ground of the maharajas of Jaipur and is one of the last few habitats capable of supporting viable populations of 'Panthera Tigris" - the Royal Bengal Tiger. "Seeing a tiger needs patience, and is purely a matter of chance", said the forest ranger as our jeep entered the park. We knew it, but the excitement and sense of anticipation was palpable. The park sprawls across approx. 400 sq. km. of forest where the rolling Vindhya and craggy Aravalli Hills meet. Vegetation is lush and varied. Dhok, ber, sal, pipal and banyan trees, a few [View Full Entry]

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Shekhawati is a landscape of narrow country roads, half forgotten villages and beautiful havelis. (large ornate traditional houses). Crops of bright green mustard seeds, wheat and cauliflower interlaced with sandy tracks, ornate yellow sandstone wells and crumbling cenotaphs. An open air painting of shifting colour and light. Once an area on the silk trade route between the ports of the Arabian Sea and the Ganges Valley, the wealthy Shekhawati 'thakurs' (noblemen) were able to build fantastic residences, decorated from top to bottom with frescos. The paintings depict Hindu gods, portraits of l [View Full Entry]

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She greeted us with a traditional 'namaste' greeting. Palms pressed together, fingertips pointing heavenwards, hands just below her face. She bowed her head - "welcome", she said and ushered us into our room - guest quarters at the front of the house. She busied herself, fetching water which was set on a small table in front of us. "You will take tea"? Chai cements all relations in India - to refuse would be unthinkable. Off she went again, and duely the water jug was replaced by a small tray - two cups of chai - sweet milky tea, some cake and [View Full Entry]

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Every October in the 8th month of Kartika, business and religion come together and the quiet town of Pushkar is transformed into the circus that is the Pushkar camel festival. Thousands of livestock owners stir in the Thar desert, pack up family and belongings onto wooden carts, trailing camels, horses, and cows behind them, to trade on the Mela ground - a huge, dry, expanse of scrub on the northen edge of town. Some 50,000 camels and cattle cover this terrain - animals as far as the eye can see. With front legs tied together, the camels eat, drink, snort, groan [View Full Entry]

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