It’s obvious, sitting in the early morning sunshine on the balcony of my hotel room, that Spring is on its way to Jaipur. A pretty little Laughing Dove, twig in beak, keeps flying within inches of where I’m sitting and disappearing into a tall, broad-leaved shrub nearby. Her mate meanwhile sits unafraid on my balcony rail, puffing up his tiny chest and emitting a chuckling coo, roo-roo, roo-roo. Numerous miniscule, metallic blue-green and light-brown birds, male and female Purple Sunbirds, flit among the fragrant pink flowers of a Butterfly Tree (Bauhinia purpurea) uttering a shrill tzeet, sometimes tzeet-tzeet, sometimes tzeet-tzeet-tzeet. They fly quickly from flower to flower, stopping for a mere fraction of a second each time. They’re a challenge for a photographer – by the time they’re in focus, they’ve gone! I’m in the hectic ... read more

It’s hot in Jaisalmer, this desert jewel in Rajasthan’s crown. Last year, I was here a month or so earlier () but now, in March, summer’s on its way to this harsh, arid land. When I arrived a week ago, it was still winter, reaching a mere 28oC by midday. Today, it reached 35oC. By April, it’ll start to climb to its 50ozenith. There were some clouds today and rumours of cooling rain. As this city averages only eight days or so of rainfall each year, I took the predictions with a pinch of salt. Then the heavens opened! Torrential rain flooded the hotel’s rooftop. The roads were awash with muddy brown water rolling downhill at a rate of knots, carrying all manner of refuse with it. Children splashed with glee in the unexpected waves. Then, ... read more

‘The best laid plans of mice and men...’, so the saying goes.* I usually plan my journeys in advance and in detail, with much careful thought. Doubtless, that’s something to do with what I once did for others when I worked in the holiday industry. This time, I’d pre-booked a train from Abu Road to Jodhpur, 1AC (First Air-Conditioned) class of course. Here in India that’s quite a bit short of equivalent to the old British Railways’ blood and custard coloured corridor carriages of my childhood. Those on Indian Railways are probably even older than that - and they’ve been used by millions more people before me without much in the way of maintenance and refurbishment, which leaves their condition to your imagination. All this information’s a bit irrelevant anyway as I changed my mind at ... read more

I’m always discovering new things about my beloved India. I wasn’t previously aware, for example, that many Indian people don’t know the actual date on which they were born. Until just three or four years ago, there was no official registration of births, so some children were given notional birthdays. A friend here has his birthday on 4th January. He was the fourth child born to his parents. His siblings’ birthdays are on 1st, 2nd and 3rd January. Some people have two birthdays – one on the notional or actual date and one on a memorable religious date. My good friend Khuman had one of his birthdays a couple of days ago, on Maha Shivrati (a lunar festival in remembrance of the powerful god Shiva). His actual date of birth is not until ten days or ... read more

Not India again? Rajasthan, again? Don't you have anywhere else to go? Well, yes, I do. Like most inveterate travellers, I have a bucket list - but, alas, not enough years to visit every country on it before I kick it (the bucket that is, not the list)! So, while I hope to put a line through at least some places on that list in the future, I'll stick with a familiar one in the meantime. I've mentioned before that, in a past life, I'd been fortunate to visit quite a few places around the globe - and even more fortunate that most of those visits were made at someone else's expense, including several trips to India! I enjoyed all of them. However, there are some that I enjoyed more than others and India happens to ... read more