no real updates today: been watching cricket most of yesterday and today and generally having an idyllic time. Will try to blog more tomorrow afternoon.

For now, what happened to Andrew Strauss? 128 in first innings but a power cut stopped me from seeing his second – and very short – second knock.

Hi there

I arrived in India’s equivalent of Blackpool-cum-Evesham last night, except there’s no puke on the streets or shagging in bus-shelters. I’m using a very frail dial-up connection so will keep this very brief.

The specialities here appear to be fruit-growing (blackberries, strawberries especially) and locally made fudge. I won’t get fruit for obvious reasons but if anyone wants some local fudge, best to text me on 07909 504328 (I won’t be able to text back) because I won’t be checking email again before I leave here (in 2 or 3 days) – it’s just too painful. (This is the fourth time I’ve tried – either there’s a power-cut or the phone system is down.)

If you call my cellphone it costs us both huge amounts but it’s no problem to receive a text saying ‘call me on …’ and for me then to find an ISD phone booth – they’re all over India.

OK, time to try posting this…

Not much to add at the moment. Another brit has turned up at my hotel: he’s from Bath and was a local council official until he packed it in for a long holiday. He was also a Labour party member until at least the 1997 election and so it was useful to hear an insider’s account of how and why the ‘Blairite’/post-Maggie modernisation was necessary.

Today, it appears that Sonia Gandhi has resigned both as an MP and from her ‘office of profit’, despite quietly protesting that the position she held did not profit her at all financially. She’s also a good constituency MP, according to constituents quoted in the Times of India and is likely to be re-elected in any by-election.

This has stopped the move to adjourn Parliament (and hence bring in the decree I mentioned yesterday.) Also, the governement is now claiming it never intended to promulgate such a decree in the first place and that the adjournment was simply to allow the budget demate and this issue to calm down.

The irony is that the ‘office of profit’ issue was raised by a candidate from Sonia’s own Congress party. He lost an election to Jaya Bachchan and then complained to the electoral commission that she was an ineligable candidate because of her ‘other job’. (She responded to this by showing that she’d resigned this job just before the election, but then took it up again while still an MP.) However the stink from this process took down his party leader.

She’s played the ‘martyr card’ at least once before. Her party won an overwhelming victory in a recent general election but she didn’t take the opportunity to form a government, possibly due to opposition taunts that a ‘foreigner’ shouldn’t rule India. (See <http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Gandhi_Sonia.html&gt; for further detail.)

OK, time for me to look into how I should now move on to Mahabaleshwar…

Ooops
oops – looks like I took my weekly anti-malarial pill a day early yesterday. So I think I better use the full-on anti mosquito precautions (mossie net, repellant and coils/fumes) for a while, especially towards the end of the week. So far I’ve just used the coils and repellant.

I have been bitten quite a lot but I think it was by other insects. I’ve certainly felt no ill effects other than the ‘mughal’s revenge’. The cyber-cafe owner has just enquired after my health after I went out to the toilet. Fortunately it was no more than ‘business as usual’. However, I am very grateful for his (and others’) concern.

Audaciousness
He also asked me if I was intending to visit Goa. He met a chap at the american consulate who was audaciously robbed in the main train station there. Apparently, he was holding his rucsac between his legs when someone asked him if he’d dropped some money. He looked, hence relaxing his grip, and the whole lot disappeared.

I have my money and plastics in a ‘shoulder-holster’ wallet under my shirt and have my camera tied to my belt when I’m out and about. I keep my main rucsac padlocked shut and chained to an immovable object, while the small rucsac is also padlocked shut. I think I have enough chain to padlock both shut and to something else when they’re attached to another. I understand the temptation to steal from us rich tourists and regard the losses I’ve had so far as a form of ‘stupid tax’ but I’m still sad that this occurs and about the economic conditions that encourage it.

Pics?
Meanwhile, does anyone want a CD of my photos so far, just in case they evaporate? I’ve had a couple burnt (one to keep with me, one to post home) but it’s no problem to get other copies made. If you do, comment below and remind me of your postal address!

New arrivals
Three lads from Nottinghamshire (very close to home) just arrived at my hotel. I hope we can swap some tips on Goa because I still really want to go there. However, the arrival of Brits means it’s probably time to move on.

tidbits
Not much else to say so here’s some tidbits from the Times of India

• Parliament is in uproar: an MP (Jaya Bachchan) was disqualified because she holds an ‘office of profit’ in the civil service. (I assume this law is to prevent conflict of interest and people being paid two state salaries.) Her party then accused 14 other MPs (mostly from the party leading the governing coalition) of committing the same offence and demanded their disqualification. (Seems fair enough to me.) This session of parliament has been adjourned by the government so it can pass a decree that the ‘offices of profit’ held by its MPs can be exempted from this ruling. (Apparently government by decree is allowable when Parliament isn’t in session.)
• This adjournment has also affected the passage of a witness- protection law that was prompted by the collapse of a recent murder trial when the witnesses withdrew their statements, presumably under threat from the accused’s accomplices.
• Following a protracted set of disputes, a woman was persuaded to go to her disputants’ village ostensibly to try to to settle them. On arrival she was set upon, paraded naked and had acid thrown over her. Truly horrifying.
• The Mumbai High Court has ruled that builders must fulfil the ‘promises’, such as garden space, in their brochures, even if the actual contracts with purchasers don’t mention all of them. (Would that this could be applied to elected governments!)
• IT companies here, including Wipro and IBM, have fired some employees for faking their CVs. Some of these employees had been in place for up to 2 years!
• There’s been some success in tracing suspects in a case of abduction and murder of an IT employee who got a lift from Pune to Mumbai. Apparently up to 500 people do this each Friday because the bus, train and taxi services are inadequate.
• There’s a big campaign to undo some of the ravages of the Mutha, one of Pune’s main rivers. Apparently construction companies have been dumping rubble in it, reducing its capacity and hence causing stagnation and flooding when there are releases from the dam upstream.
• Some songs have been banned (from cable TV) because they’re too raunchy. Also, some TV companies have been told off for allowing promotion direct or indirect of alcohol and tobacco. How’s the smoking ban in the UK going?
• In Afghanistan, a bloke is on trial for rejecting Islam and converting to Christianity. (Apparently this is an offence there and such offenders may face the death penalty.) However, a state prosecutor has said ‘We think he could be mad. He doesn’t talk like a normal person’ and a religious advisor to Afghanistan’s president has stated ‘If he is mentally unfit, Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven. The case must be dropped.’
• And finally, Australian cricket supporters have been officially reprimanded in a New Delhi court for ‘premeditated, co-ordinated and calculated’ racial abuse of some South African cricketers. Such actions will now attract heavy fines. Rightly so, in my opinion. These bloody mongrels have shamed one of my home countries and insulted my preferred spectator sport.

Truly all human life is here!

I woke up from my afternoon siesta (I’m still not sleeping much at nights because of next-door’s fan) with the realisation that I should say the following publically:

1. It was probably wrong of me to leave no response time (especially due to the time difference between here and the UK) between my private email to a certain commenter and my ‘this ends now’ comment. For this, and for using capitals, (i.e. ‘shouting’) I apologise.
2. I was probably talking out of my depth when I made my ‘selling’ comment about art yesterday. While I did include the caveat about the numbers of artists I’ve spoken with, I realise that maybe I didn’t caveat enough. My comment probably only applies to artists living in ‘western’, capitalist societies and probably don’t apply to ritual (e.g. hunting) and sacred art, especially when done ‘solo’.

   However, I do imagine that such artists, when working on the behalf of their communities, will usually receive some form of recompense, payment or reward for the, especially if the art ‘achieves its objective’ (i.e. is seen to lead to a successful hunt, optimal glorification of a deity, etc). I would be grateful for any statistical or anecdotal evidence about this.

I probably have the ethnomedicine book I was reading this morning to thank for these realisations.

Well, today has been a very lazy day. I woke around 8.30, just in time for the morning power-cut and lazed in bed with my sudoku and Ethnomedicine books. Some time after 10pm, power was restored and the hotel staff and I sat back to watch the final day of this test series.

cricket news
India had apparently already lost another batsman and were chasing just under 300 runs, needing a run-rate of around 3 per over. This is just about achievable and they nominally had the batsmen and wickets to achieve it. However, despite a few dropped catches that must have frustrated the English bowlers, none of the India batsman lived up to their potential and they were all out for 100. Only Sachin Tendulkar scored above 30 runs and he was suffering from shoulder-pain and shouldn’t really have been playing. Dhoni tried to blast a few boundaries and was dropped by a highly embarrassed Monty Pradesar. A couple of balls later, Dhoni gave Pradesar an almost repeat opportunity and this time was safely caught.

I think the last three wickets went for 1 run, not even ‘The Turbanator’ (Harbajan Singh)’s fixed determination improving India’s lot. For most of the last session, the hotel staff watched the one-day international between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, having given up hope on the Test match. In fact, someone (who may be the hotel’s owner) angrily denounced ‘cheating’. I protested at this because I don’t think Flintoff and co would want to win this way and he calmed down but said that something was definitely amiss because India’s tail-enders can normally get 30 or 40 runs between them.

I’m a bit sad for my hosts (overall the series was a draw: 1 match apiece) but happy for England’s fairly scratch team (5 English top-flight players were too ill to play in this series) and disappointed that the day was an anti-climax.

musical accompaniment?
All day, the Roy Harper song When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease has been echoing around my head. It, along with Kate Bush’s Lionheart is one of the songs that reminds me that, for all its faults, England does have something worthwhile. The notions of fair play and dedication, the timelessness of the brass accompaniment and the reminders of the green-ness around Worcester (in particular, the stream 5 minutes’ walk from my parents’ house where I’ve spent hours listening to the water, the field of cows just beyond it, the majestic sight of the Malvern Hills rising above Worcestershire’s rich alluvial plain and memories of many happy times spent there with friends): all of these have powerful emotional effects on me.

You can check out an mp3 at <http://www.royharper.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?products_id=11&gt; and the first verse’s lyrics are, as best as I can google/recall

When the day is done, and the ball has spun
In the umpire’s pocket away,
And all remains are the groundsman’s pains,
For the rest of time and a day.
There’ll be one mad dog and his master, pushing for 4 with the spin.
On a dusty pitch, with two pounds six of willowwood in the sun.

When an old cricketer leaves the crease, you never know whether he’s gone,
If maybe you’re catching a fleeting glimpse, of a twelfth man at silly mid-on.
And it could be Geoff, and it could be John,
With a new ball sting in his tail.
And it could be me, and it could be thee,
And it could be the sting in the ale………sting in the ale.

OK, I don’t expect this to mean much to anyone else but this is my journal and this song has been going round and round my head. Maybe, just maybe, I am English and can be proud of it.

Time to post this, check on friends and then go back to the hotel for food! Toodle-pip!

Well, back to blogging after wasting far too much time on a certain issue. I would say more about it but for now ‘least said, soonest mended’. (However, I’m intrigued that certain comments and my reactions to them have disappeared from MY journal when I certainly didn’t delete them.)

Apart from this, yesterday and the day before have been two of the most idyllic in India and possibly in my life.

Sunday 19th
I’m getting a bit confused here because I appear to have already blogged about this day. However, my diary is as follows:
A dreadfully lazy day after waking up at 5.30. Eventually the Korean (Jae Jung) and I crawled to cyber highway where I spent ages on my blog…

Back to the hotel – no electricity. I read it’s because the Maharashtra state electricity company is broke. Other states are charging it more than it can afford for electricity supplies, so there are regular power cuts from 8.30am to 10am and from 3pm to 4.30pm. The company wants to raise prices but so far the state legislature has resisted this.

You may also have heard that there’s been a lot of chicken deaths here. (However, there is also a big propaganda campaign extolling the safety of chickens and eggs.) Bird flu is highly suspected but the most recent deaths may well have been caused by a chicken speculator keeping his birds in terrible conditions. In another case, a farmer has been arrested for refusing to co-operate with the state apparatus who want to find out why his birds died. There is an awful lot of culling happening and about to happen. (I’m omitting a bit here for fear of causing further upset. However if anyone wants to know, you’re welcome to contact me privately. )

Once power was restored, I watched the last hour’s play. England had achieved 400 runs in their first innings but so far India had only got 89 runs for 3 wickets. I read later that a star Indian batsman was booed off the pitch after failing to score well in this innings. There’s been a lot of furore in the media about this. Personally, I admire anyone who has the strength to do anything active in the full heat of the Indian sun.

By the way, this test match is being played in ‘Wankhede’ stadium. I’m sure you can imagine how I want to pronounce that!

At every break between overs, there’s an advert for a skin-lightening cosmetic which is portrayed as making its male users more sexually attractive to women. Even if Indian women really do generally find lighter skin tones more sexually attractive, I find the inherent racism in this advert rather disturbing and annoying. I’d have hoped for better here but watching other adverts seems to show most seem to use actors who are much lighter than the average skin-tone here.

During most of this session I was trying to explain cricket to the Iranian (name omitted to protect the ‘guilty’). It’s one thing to explain the basic mechanics but entirely another to try to explain the finesses and mental challenges of the game, especially when my grasp of it all is fairly weak.

Afterwards, Mr Iran, Jae Jung and I went out in search of a parade that Mr Iran had heard of because it was supposed to feature elephants. We found a solitary camel, despite the main drag being closed to cars. Mr Iran also asked a policewoman if he could photograph her but she refused. We then encountered two more Iranians, with whom Mr Iran spoke in a mixture of Persian and French – and I found that my grammar-school French is incomprehensible to francophone Iranians. I’m a bit saddened by this because in first year at St Andrews I was told by a third-year French student that my French was good.

Mr Iran also told the other Iranians of his adventures in the red-light zone and off they scampered. On the way back to the hotel, he took surreptitious pictures of women passing by and then persuaded Jae Jung to distract the policewoman so he could photograph her. This was really stupid because there were many police about, most armed with lathis (3-foot long wooden truncheons). I could see this was stupid, despite being still drunk from the single beer I’d necked earlier (admittedly on an empty stomach). I made my excuses and went back to the hotel to eat and write this. (And yes, I did omit a certain experiment – sorry to all who were looking forward to it.)

The beer garden here is packed with young-ish folk (mostly male), eating and drinking. I feel rather out of place because I’m the only non-India here, I’m bearded, have long-ish hair (almost a mullet) and am wearing a psychedelic tee-shirt. This combination prompted a local to offer me some ganga on the way back to the hotel but again I declined. Beer, tiredness, heat and hunger were enough and I didn’t need to be stoned or in legal trouble. Good-night all!

Monday 20th
Slept dreadfully last night because Mr Iranian kept his bloody fan on full-blast all night in the room next to me. The rooms are separated by wooden partitions which have no ceilings apart from the overall room ceiling, several feet above the tops of the walls. When I’m asleep, I padlock my valuables inside my rucsac and then padlock that to a heavy wooden table. My passport and money are in a shoulder-wallet worn under my shirt, so unless I’m actually attacked, most of my kit should be safe. It’s all insured anyway, not that I’ve ever had any success with insurance claims.

Spent the rest of the day watching the Indian 1st innings. I’d missed Sachin Tendulkar’s unpopular dismissal and was rooting (not in the Australian sense) for Dhoni (the Indian Wicket keeper) to make at least 50 so that there’d be a closer match. He got to 62, including three magnificent consecutive fours before being run out very controversially at the next ball. David Gower and Michael Atherton (two former top English cricketers) were convinced he shouldn’t have been out and explained why by quoting from the Laws of the game. Also, there’s some controversy over the big-screen running replays of the run-out before the 3rd umpire could make up his mind.

After this, I slept through the afternoon power cut and then watched more cricket. By this time, India had finished their first innings for 279 all out and England’s opener, Andrew Strauss, had already been out for 4 runs. However, since he scored 128 in the first innings, I can’t fault him and so today and tomorrow may provide the close match I’m hankering after.

After this, I spent far too long at the cyber cafe. It’s only costing 20 rupees (30 UK pence) an hour but I wonder how the place affords its kit. I’ve checked on the price of iPods here and they’re comparable with UK apple-store prices, so I imagine other kit costs folk here just as much as it would in the UK.!

Monday 20th part 2: Help!
On the way back into the hotel, the night-watchman asked me if I wanted to buy his Air-Force medals. He’s supporting a large family on a low wage. What do you think I should do? It may help you to know

• He’s asking 1800 rupees for whatever he’s selling. This is around 25 pounds.
• I have 2700 rupees in my wallet, along with over 800 UK pounds’ of travellers cheques.
• I’ve already spent somewhat significantly more than my budget for the time I’ve been here and need to curb my spending, especially as I have no overall income. However, were I employed (and I expect to be fairly soon after I return to the UK), I could easily afford it. (This amount would be about the same as the cost of two or three cellar-bar sessions.)
• I often buy The Big Issue because ‘it’s working, not begging’ and I do have qualms about simply giving hand-outs to beggars. (Having said this, if I have any coins in my pocket, I will give these out because they mean almost nothing to me but will buy the beggar a roti or two, enough to keep them alive for a day. (Why do I feel horribly smug when I re-read this?)
• If I buy a newspaper or similar from a street vendor who obviously lives on the street and pay with a 10-rupee note, I’ll usually tell them to keep the change.
• In general, I disapprove of armed forces. Buying the medals might seem as if I do. This man has seen action in various wars, most of which (if I have understood what he says and have recalled correctly) were fairly pointless and stupid. In general, the ongoing disagreement between India and Pakistan and its ramifications is REALLY annoying and quite scary.
• In general, I disapprove of a state ignoring its more unfortunate citizens and am concerned that private hand-outs might encourage this.
• I’ve been very comfortable at this hotel and am quite keen to tip. Similarly, I’m happy to reward a night-watchman who helps keep my stuff safe.
• I have no use or desire for any Indian Air-Force medals, except to pass on to military historians or collectors.

I’d very much appreciate any answers you have by this evening (10pm Indian time, which is 5.30pm UK time) because I told him I’d think about it and let him know tonight. If anyone reading this does want them, then I’m very happy to buy them on your behalf in return for appropriate recompense.

After this, I talked with the Iranian for a while and tried to ask him silverwhistle’s question but didn’t get anywhere. I did get a lesson in Persian (Farsi?) characters so it wasn’t a waste of time and, as usual, it’s useful to learn about my limitations, no matter how galling they may be at the time.

Tuesday 21st
Another abysmal night’s sleep, followed by another marathon cyber-cafe session! Thereafter back to the cricket!

EDIT
As of 2pm UK time (7.30pm here), I’ve had one response so far – thanks to the responder. I appreciate most of you are several hours from being able to respond. I have to admit to having snuck past the guard on my way to the cyber-cafe this evening.

I’ve also been pondering my reaction to plights here in comparison to my response to people in the UK who aren’t eligible for state support. I’m aware there is a contradiction in one important case and am not pleased with my inability so far to achieve a satisfactory resolution to this. I have thoughts about what I might do but this dis-satisfaction remains at least at the back of my mind, festering along with many other related issues.

Marianne

I have been very tempted to swear at you, then block you from commenting in my journal, or even to end our friendship. However
* this would be beneath me
* it would have no respect for our long-standing friendship
* it would not help resolve the issues.
Instead, I am preparing an email try to explain (and admittedly expiate my anger with you) in the detail that an intelligent human being deserves. However, I am concerned that sending it just now wouldn’t help matters. Please advise me whether you’re ready to receive it.

In the meantime, I rather suspect you would consider it wrong to spoil a fellow HUMAN’s enjoyment of a fairly innocent past-time? If I am right, please understand that you are affecting MY enjoyment of MY OWN blog and act accordingly.

Bruce

Since I’ve got a bit of time remaining… according to today’s Times of India,

India can breathe easy on the bird flu front for the time being. All the 11 human samples from Jalgaon, screened for the deadly HN51 bird flu virus, have tested negative.

(snip)

Besides symptoms, all [patients] had handled dead poultry from the infected zone over the past 15 days.

(snip)

‘However we will carry out the most advanced virus culture test to be absolutely sure. This will help us detect any kind of virus present in the human samples, even other than the HN51 virus. This final confirmatory test will take another 10 days.’

Apparently at midnight last night it became the Islamic new year. I hope it’s a good one for muslims and infidels everywhere.

Mr Iran
I got back to the hotel after this morning’s marathon cyber-session to find that it was lunch-break in the cricket. By the time play resumed, the usual afternoon power-cut was on and so I ate lunch (vegetable pilao rice and a small Kingfisher lager) and chatted with Mr Iran.

I’m beginning to have more sympathy with him: he was married at age 23 to a woman he’d met once after their parents arranged the marriage. I knew only too well that arranged marriages occur in many cultures but I hadn’t associated this practice with Iran. Whatever, being forced to spend life with someone you don’t love can’t be fun and so no wonder he has a girl-friend! Unfortunately there are children involved* and the look on his face when he answered my question made me feel utterly horrible – I must have really hit a nerve. However, conversation moved on so I think we’re still on side.
*I don’t understand this bit – physical intimacy with someone I don’t love (or at least like at the time) is utterly repulsive to me.

He also told me that Islam allowed his grandfather 5 wives and asked me to confirm that my system only allowed me one at a time. I did so and told him that for me, one partner at a time is more than enough, so that there is no way I’d want a wife and a girlfriend at the same time. Even if I didn’t like my wife any more, I’d still feel bound to the marriage and so would feel pulled apart.

He’s not at all impressed with the mullah-ocracy or the current loony in charge of Iran (whom he describes as having been a jumped-up former henchman/assassin for Khomenei), nor with the ‘Islam-system’ (his description) that denies people the chance of finding partners with whom they can be happy. He seemed open to my description of the faults of the ‘western’ system, namely that you can make wrong choices (for which you only have yourself to blame) and that, in my opinion, we’re not expected or taught how to be good, life-long partners.

Of course this is largely based on my own experiences and opinions of myself. However, other UK people who have been in relationships with Asian women have mentioned that they seem much more marriage-oriented/trained. Mr Iran mentioned this opinion too. I’m not sure how I feel about it. In ways, it seems sexist and racist, but if it promotes the happiness of the people involved and the stability of their children’s lives, who am I to criticise?

I admit to exploding with outrage at the mention of the burkha – to me it’s dramatically unfair that women have to cover themselves up because men can’t control their lusts, and a bit of a slander on men too. I suspect most men can’t control their thoughts and wondering eyes but they can be unobtrusive and wouldn’t act out anything without actual permission and/or encouragement!

(Having said that, I’ve seen a few women in burkhas here. As usual here, the material is beautiful. I can’t help but feel that Indian fashions greatly add to the beauty I perceive here.)

Mr Iran also told me of the uselessness of his country’s internal airlines: reliability and responsibility aren’t their concerns. To paraphrase, ‘So what if you have an international flight booked from Tehran? Our plane’s not flying there today, even if you have booked and paid and there’s no other due until after your international flight’s departed. It’s not our problem!’ So he endured a 7-hour bus ride from his home-town to Tehran. I can forgive a lot after undergoing several bus-journeys here and a few unpleasant long-distance ones in the UK.

He blames most of the problems on the corrupt mullah-ocracy, along with the war with Iraq and the accompanying squander of Iran’s oil-money. Mr Iran is a believer – or at least attends mosque (but not the ritual 5 times a day) and doesn’t have much time at all for people who pretend to Islam purely for financial and political advancement, while not paying the alms Islam demands.* He also says there are far too many such people in his country. Of course money is important to him but it can only be unimportant to really careless, unattached or just offensively rich people!
*which I think are a good idea, as is the idea of fasting so you can learn what it’s like to have no food.

He’s also mentioned how people drink vodka but disguise it by diluting it with water for safety’s sake and how ‘religious’ police can just ‘disappear’ people who break the gender-association and alcohol laws. I described to him, as best I could*, how prohibition in the US had led to the making of the mafia and he seemed to acknowledge a similar process in his country.
*Of course I’m not a US historian and am aware that I could have been talking utter bullshit. Grateful for confirmation, denial and further info from anyone more knowledgeable reading this.

Of course, this is only the opinion of one person but I find it interesting and thought you might too.

All in all, while I’ve been invited to Iran, I don’t think I’ll bother just yet. As a jew-descended, not completely straight, western liberal out-and-out materialist atheist, I think I’d be far from welcome and very unhappy with whatever I saw, without being able to do anything about it.

Hindu excursion
I’ve also had an interesting snippet of conversation with the (Hindu) night manager. He’s a former banker who, being retired but wanting to support his younger son’s cinematographic ambitions, is working here until his son is successful and can support him! (I think he’s around 50 years old.) He also emphasised the lack of social security here when I asked him whether the ‘medal offer’ offer I’ve mentioned earlier was likely to be genuine.

He tried to describe Sikhism to me and Mr Iran (who thought he was talking about ill people), portraying it as an offshoot of Hinduism but basically a peaceful, if strongly militant, set of people. I asked about Mrs Gandhi’s Sikh body-guards shooting her and he told me that it stemmed from Sikh demands for an independent Punjab/Sikh state. Mrs Gandhi refused to allow India to fragment and so ‘was forced’ to deal with the insurrection, based at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. This led to her ‘martyrdom’ for India’s integrity. However, the night manager says that there are now no such problems with Sikhs and so there’s basic communal peace at the moment.

Not sure that’s entirely the case but certainly there’s been no problems that I’ve encountered and so far, it’s all been lovely, while forcing me to think and learn quite a lot.