Passage to India
Return to India 2022
Return to the Source
The young Ganges and distant Gangotri glacier We all need to return to the source sometimes. It’s where you can reconnect with those deeper aspects of yourself that life and navigating it can disconnect you from. What better way of…
Works still to do
“Early in the day it was whispered that we should sail in a boat, only thou and I and never a soul in the world would know of this our pilgrimage to no country and to no end. In that…
Pilgrim’s progress. Highlights from the Road to Salvation
I arrived into Delhi on 19th November 2019 and spent a few days there adjusting to the immense change in my circumstances. The last time I had been in the country was back in March of that year, and that…
Leaving Rishikesh
It’s time to leave Rishikesh. For these last few weeks I have realised that the work I came here to do, in whatever capacity, is done. I have documented life here since my arrival at the beginning of April, and…
Chota Char Dham. Pilgrimage in the days of mass tourism
Sahdev Rana, my trusty driver and guide (1) and I left early Friday morning to drive to Gangotri, source of the Ganges and one of the famous Chota Char Dham Pilgrimage destinations sacred to Hindus. We had been here before,…
Rishikesh for addicts
It’s 1st May today and this marks my fourth week anniversary of arriving here from Sri Lanka. May Day traditionally marks the first day of summer and throughout the UK Morris and maypole dancers will be celebrating with the time…
The Sixties called. They want their icons back
During the long period of the Indian lockdown across the summer of 2020, my home became an attractive hotel on the edge of town along the Badrinath Road, called Hotel Sixties Greenhills. Here I might be found many a day…
Rishikesh for Ravers
Rishikesh lies in the valley of a gorge of the still young River Ganges in the first low foothills of the Himalayas in the northern state of Uttarakhand. It has an ancient pedigree as a sacred pilgrimage location, home to…
Island of tea and tourism
The British love affair with tea can probably best be seen in Sri Lanka, one time island of Ceylon. Committed advocate of decolonisation as I am, I must nevertheless confess that I do find the name Ceylon more attractive and…
Passage to India
Last year when I went to Nepal, my journey strangely took me from Manchester to Copenhagen, Copenhagen to Istanbul, then Istanbul to Kathmandu, taking some forty hours in total. This owing to the limitations and convolutions attendant on international travel…
