Year: 2009

  • My lovely family and friends

    I have just returned from Cyprus – my little island in the mediterranean which is where I come from. It is ridiculously small in the scheme of things, less than a million in population and struggling to find a just solution to the Turkish Invasion of 1974 which has deprived it of some 30 %…

  • An Indian Xmas

    I write to you all on the 25th of December to wish each and every one of you who celebrate a very merry Xmas and a great new year. This is our first Xmas in India and it feels somewhat odd.I have given up on Xmas Cards. That is the end of the road for them.…

  • Auto rickshaws

    Ever since we arrived in India my son has been fascinated by auto rickshaws and said that the best Xmas present would be an old one that he could slowly and lovingly restore. I scoured the market for a toy one and found a poor replica but I am also keeping my ears and eyes open…

  • A muddled moment

    Was rushing to go to Delhi today so brushed my hair and tidied myself up.Reached for the toothpaste in the cup and spread it on my toothbrush. Put it in my mouth and brushed vigorously. It was minty but somehow the bubbles and froth were missing and I looked at the tube to see if…

  • Abandoned Lives

    Every day this week when I have read the paper I have come across stories of babies being abandoned in various places, from the hospital in which they were born, a case of twins recently, to a baby being abandoned on a train track today, to countless others which perhaps go unreported. A web page…

  • Chandni Chowk old Delhi- a little history

    Having walked the streets of this area I became a little curious about its history.Even more so when my driver mentioned that Chandni means moonlight and Chowk means intersection or crossing. Chandni Chowk is the major street in the walled city of Old Delhi, which was originally called Shah Jahanabad. The walled city which includes the…

  • Chandni Chowk old Delhi

    A friend came from Geneva so I thought it would be nice to shake her clean sensibilities a little. We took a cycle rickshaw into the inner streets of Chandni Chowk and what a time we had. Hassan was our guide and he took us to places that perhaps foreigners don’t often go, so we…

  • Marriages all around

    We live in an area of South Delhi which has a preponderance of so called “farmhouses”. No much farming goes on here but “milking” the wedding industry ah that is a whole different ball game. These massive houses are built and often rented out as hospitality places and as wedding venues. The result an enormous…

  • Marriage X 3

     A tribe in India called the Newar who live in the valley of Kathmandu marry their girls three times. Once before puberty to Bel the fruit of a wood apple tree, secondly with the sun and finally with a human.I wonder if practice makes perfect and by the time they get to a human they have…

  • The Taj Mahal, Agra, revisited

    The Taj Mahal, Agra, revisited This is my third visit but it is not until now that I realized that the name Taj Mahal came from her name Mumtaj Mahal. In other words it is her house …and what a house it is.This is the story of Emperor Shah Jahan building this as a memorial…