Seven am. The rhythmic thumping of dhobi women on the ghat below has been with me since before dawn. As Rajasthani summer gathers pace, nights as hot as day have me sleeping nude without covers on the bed; fan on … Read More »
Yesterday evening. I deem it a fine joint, given that it’s the first I’ve rolled in a quarter century, but Guddu’s tone has a dismissive note I don’t entirely care for at so milestone a moment. On what criterion does it … Read More »
It’s tricky, negotiating a way down this baked and rutted track to a lake spied from the road. I have to calibrate. Too little power and I come a cropper as front wheel fails to steer round or over the ruts, pitching the machine sideways. … Read More »
How rude of me! I haven’t yet shown the view from my window. Here it is: After coffee and fruit I took myself down to a park, south of town and near the lake. First thing I happened upon … Read More »
Stuff to do! My first task, after coffee of course, is to get myself to the spice market a mile to the northeast of my den on Gangaur Ghat. I prefer to walk at this time of day, though some … Read More »
[ezcol_1half]Early yesterday morning a cormorant on Pichola’s north-east corner, in Udaipur’s Old City where it narrows to a canal connecting the lake to Fateh Sagar, caught a pipefish a foot long. I didn’t see the duo surface, the one to … Read More »
Disinclined to write, I wandered the ghats and streets at the northern end of Lake Pichola. Later I’ll dedicate a post to the lake, so have focused here on faces, mostly human. [ezcol_1half]I spotted him as he was about to ascend … Read More »
[ezcol_1half]Holi kicked off last night with street dancing and bonfires on every corner of Udaipur in Southern Rajasthan, and in cities, towns and villages the length and breadth of India. Just the men, that is. The only women dancers were western. … Read More »
A few pictures from the last few days – on the streets in Udaipur in the south of the state and Jaisalmer, way across the Thar Desert to the west and north, close to the border with Pakistan. It’s … Read More »
Eight am on Saturday: the street porters of Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk and Chawri are hard at it. Interstate trucks have driven through the night under loads they’d never get away with in the west: stacked to the sky, massive … Read More »