Just to remind you of my most recent posts…
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February 9th, 2019
They say God works in mysterious ways
I would posit that the cops in Gurugram, a satellite town of Delhi, act in even more mysterious ways.
(Gurugram used to be known as Gurgaon until – also mysteriously – the name was changed, just like that).
Anyway, back to the mysterious policing methods of our cops.
Read on:
My goodness me, that is some fine strategic thinking.
“…thus luring vehicle lifters to take a chance and steal these vehicles. The police will keep an eye on
view full post » […]
Click to continue reading To catch a thief. Indian style
February 7th, 2019 
…I went to Manderley again.
(And yes, well done to every one of you who finished off the quotation!)
Although I only arrived from Mandalay this morning, the quote was too good to ignore, and the spelling be damned.
And it’s not just poetic licence making me dream of Mandalay, it’s the damn Delhi weather. As I write, bundled up in 2 layers of fleece, it is absolutely throwing it down, and even hailing in some parts of the city. It is cold, windy, grey, and rainy.
Yuck.
Give me the blue skies and warm sunshine of Mandalay any […]
Click to continue reading Last night I dreamt…
January 22nd, 2019
On a scale of totally wonderful wedding anniversary wishes, this one is a perfect 10 🙂
Sometimes, India makes me laugh out loud with delight, & these charming wishes did just that!
January 18th, 2019
In January 1983, round about the 18th/19th/20th, I flew to what was then Bombay for the first time.
First time in India.
And it was love at first sight.
I repeat, love at first sight.
I hadn’t thought concretely about dates and anniversaries and such like until I landed in Mumbai last night. Driving into the city alone late at night, in a rattle-trap-y un A/C taxi, the way I had done all those years ago, and it all come back to me. The sounds, the buzz and – yes – the smell of Mumbai.
And it made me […]
Click to continue reading Happy 36th anniversary to us, Bombay meri Jaan
January 7th, 2019
I made a New Year Resolution to digitise all my thousands upon thousands of transparencies.
Back in the day, before digital photography ruined my livelihood, I used to work for about 20 different photo libraries around the globe, supplying them all with photos. So I have a mammoth task in front of me, in terms of numbers of images to be scanned and, naturally, emotional trips down memory lane.
I’m sharing some of the images on my Instagram feed @decadeography, and others I’ll share with you here.
Like this cracker from late 1980s Delhi.
Talk about wordy advertising 😛 but with all that passionate and tantalizing […]
Click to continue reading Anyone for a coddling grip?
January 6th, 2019
It’s not even 10 o’clock in the morning and I am already feeling bereft.
Downcast.
An empty, undecorated void in my heart and, most glaringly obvious, in my home.
Today, 6 January, is the day I take down my Christmas decorations.
We did it on this date in my childhood home, on the basis that 6 January is when the 3 Kings are supposed to have arrived to see the baby Jesus. I never quite got it why all the jolly decorations had to come down on the very day royalty rocked up, but there you go. Traditions are […]
Click to continue reading So farewell, then, gorgeous fairy lights
December 27th, 2018 
…in the BEST possible way, I hasten to add.
Last week was a happy week full of the celebrations leading up to the Sunday wedding of 2 cool young friends of ours, Alisha Mehra & Kula Naidu.
It was a wonderful few days of happy celebrations, with friends and family, as well as the 2 family dogs who played a starring role.
The dogs wandered through all the pre-wedding festivities with great aplomb, even joining people on the dance floor at the mehendi.
But come the wedding on a beautiful sunny Sunday, and the dogs were so stellar they […]
Click to continue reading When a wedding almost goes to the dogs…
December 11th, 2018
107 years ago today, at the Delhi Coronation Durbar, King George V announced that the capital of India would be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi, where a new city would be built – New Delhi.
Gosh.
I could, of course, be really immature, and say that 107 years later, Delhi is still not finished, a massive work in progress, but that would be un-birthday-like.
So I won’t.
Instead I shall wish the city that is now my adopted home a very happy birthday.
New Delhi is a city that infuriates me much of the time, a city beset with […]
Click to continue reading Happy 107th birthday New Delhi
December 7th, 2018 
Yeah, I know, I know.
I sometimes give Delhi a hard time.
Well, quite frankly, and at the risk of upsetting anybody yadda yadda yadda, quite often this city is not a particularly likeable place.
Anyone who follows this blog will have read, over the months and years, endless tales of sexual violence of the worst kind, as well as endless tales of pollution of the worst kind.
Now I give you crass, stupid, dangerous vandalism.
Last month, a bridge was inaugurated in east Delhi.
Conceptualised in 1998, started in 2004, it was finally opened (though it is still not […]
Click to continue reading There are times when I despair of Delhi
November 23rd, 2018 Right, cards on table time.
I am a Christian. But I have no truck whatsoever with missionaries who seek to convert.
Equally, let me hasten to add, I take great exception to people not being allowed to convert if they so wish – which is a perennial issue here in India.
My view is that the decision to practise one’s religion or not, to convert to another faith or not, is a private one, and that outside bodies have absolutely no right to interfere.
So, having said that, let me share with you a tale of crass stupidity and ignorance […]
Click to continue reading Dying in the so-called name of God
November 22nd, 2018 
This has been a tough week for my husband and his family.
In the space of 3 days, 2 members of Himmat’s family died – a first cousin and an aunt.
Both memorial services (the “bhog”) were held, with just a day between them, at the Gurdwara Damdama Sahib, a Sikh temple near Humayun’s Tomb.
Not only had I never been to this gurdwara, I’d never even heard of it before, which is surprising, since it has quite some history attached to it
view full post » […]
Click to continue reading Sadness, rudeness & a little piece of history
November 21st, 2018 I have never lied to you, have I?
All these years, I have always faithfully told you the truth about India, varnished or unvarnished.
So trust me, friends, when I tell you that this article is SO totally worth reading, right to the end 🙂
This is India at its daftest &, paradoxically, at its wisest.
Quick bit of background info, before you start reading. Babur, about whom the protesters were up in arms, was the founder of the Mughal dynasty and died in 1530.
Yes, you read that correctly. 1530.
Anyway, read on and enjoy!
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Click to continue reading The worst-protest-ever that became the best-protest-ever!
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