Aug 2006

I was on the GNER Leeds train back home to Grantham from London yesterday, and we were delayed by 20 minutes because of a fatality at Potter's Bar. The thing that really sickened me was the women sat in front of me, who was complaining in a clipped staccato voice into her phone about her delay. Since when did we become so time conscious that someone's death is viewed as a mere inconvenience?! If that was her sister, brother, father, mother, aunt, uncle or friend, I'm sure Madam Whingealot would be appalled to hear people sat on a train whingeing that the death of her loved one has made them a pathetic 20 minutes late to get back to their cosy homes and their Marks and Spencer's ready meals. Come on.

"Charlotte... what is that? What have you done to yourself? Is THAT permanent?" - My mum's first words when she picked me up at the train station and saw me in my salwar kameez, wearing a bhindi and daubed in Mendhi henna.

Rocking up at Heathrow Airport on August 10th blissfully unaware of being amidst the terror crisis, I arrived back into England. Honestly, I had no idea about what was unfolding around me until I got to Kings X and saw it splashed all over the evening standard... good old no press hush hush airlines... "More chai madame? Gulab? Hand massage?" Ohhhh gulab I miss it so. And bherfi. And grotty street dhabas. And cheesy Pepsi ads with Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. (Pepsi-India by the way, has just been discovered to contain pesticide levels 14 TIMES the amount allowed by safety regs... and guess who was supping it the whole time she was travelling.. no worries there then.) And Shah Rukh Khan in pretty much every form of advertising POSSIBLE from underwear to lawn mowers to Limca. And aloo parantha and curd for breakfast. And MASALA CHAI! I bought some Assam tea and masala spices back with me and have been experimenting avec saucepan...but seeing as I'm about as Indian as chicken tikka masala, I have so far failed miserably.

So anyways, this will be my last blog on the subcont, as I haven't written anything about my last 2 weeks there - and there is alot to tell - I thought I'd finish that off and tie things up. Please forgive my poor poor memory though, if its all a bit sketchy... I think the mixture of DEET fumes and heat caused a few brain cells to disappear...

PSUTZ AND SHALOM SHABBAT - Back in the bling mobile to MANALI, take away pizza, 3am breakfasts and more Israelis

So after hurtling back up Kunzum La and Rohtang Pass to Manali, we came to a bit of a standstill. India being India, nothing is ever quite so simple, it always turns into an adventure... variety is the masala of life, hey?!

On the way back, we picked up Sunny (2 Tibetan Sunny's, so confusing) the owner of Batal's only free standing builiding - cum guest house - cum dhaba, as he was going to Manali to meet a friend and him and Govinder are thick as thieves. Not that we minded, Sunny turned out to be a really interesting guy. Tibetan, his parents and grandparents came to India by making the arduous journey on foot over the Himalayas from Tibet into India's HP. Sunny has lived in Batal ever since. Curious as to how someone of only 27 finds it to grow up and live literally in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity, no television, and the only company apart from his parents being passing travellers like us, Amelia and I fired the poor guy with questions.

MORE TO WRITE LATER... TOO TIRED