My travels

Home: St Kilda

I have travelled to 48 countries in the world, and consider myself a seasoned traveller. However so far my blog has only touched on my adventures of the past two years. So I have decided to challenge myself to relive the other places I have been and share with you the great, the harrowing, the…
Remaining a Child in the Eyes of a Parent

I recently had a friend drop in to visit me at home whilst my father was visiting me from Australia. My friend came in and I offered him a seat on the couch, my father was working at the dining table. For a short while he stopped to chat with us, but then went on…
Tiffins Galore: My Visit to Spice Box Tiffin Service

As part of my day spent with the dabbawalas, I visited Spice Box who cook, pack and send off over 500 tiffin meals a day to hungry office workers all over Bombay. They use the dabbawalas to make the deliveries, and therefore have to have all their tiffins packed and ready to go before 10am in…
Superpower for Some: Infant Mortality and Maternal Health

India doesn’t seem to be a lucky country if you are a newborn child or woman who has survived into adulthood. I have written before about the treatment of women in India here and here and it is not an issue that will go away. Whilst I see a lot of bad news in the Indian…
Geek Post: The Fascinating Lean Process of The Dabbawalas of Mumbai

The Dabbawalas of Mumbai are legendary. These 5,000 people deliver over 200,000 lunches a day to the workers of Bombay, and have done so for almost 125 years. It is not so much what they do that is remarkable, but the process in which they do it. As someone who has spent years of my…
India You Disgust Me!

Yes, I realise that title is harsh, but this week India really is just making me feel sick. Today I read this article about a woman who is 7 months pregnant, and when her in-laws “accidentally” found out she was carrying a girl (because pre-natal sex determination is illegal in India) they started injecting her with…
Into the Jungle: Satpura National Park

I must confess I hadn’t heard of Satpura National Park, I had heard of all the big parks in Madhya Pradesh like Bandhavgarh, Pench and Kanha, but not Satpura. It is a relative new-comer on the MP wildlife scene and it is because of this that it makes it such a fabulous place to visit.…
Hidden Delights in Madhya Pradesh: Sanchi

Less than 50 kilometres from Bhopal is the small town of Sanchi, home to one of the best kept Buddhist temples in the world. Built in the 3rd century and lovingly restored in recent years, the stupa and its nearby temples and monasteries sit high on a hill. The main stupa is just spectacular! Walking…
Bhopal: The City of Lakes and Surprises

Bhopal is a city that I had never really considered going to. It is unfortunately most famous for being the site of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters (in 1984, a gas leak in the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal exposed hundreds of thousands of people to a toxic gas that killed thousands).…
Indian Culture, Apologies and Blame

For a long time now I have had this niggling observation about Indian culture, but wasn’t sure if it was just me, isolated incidents or something I was imagining. I now think it is a cultural thing, Indians don’t seem to be able to apologise for anything, but seem to be very quick to blame…
Mumbai: Elephanta Island

Whilst I had been to Mumbai 5 times previously, I had never made it to Elephanta Island, but now I have seen them twice in less than a year. Located off the coast of South Mumbai, this island is famous for its Buddhist and Hindu caves believed to be about 1500 years old. The voyage…
Happy Easter: The Dolorosa Walk in Jerusalem

It is Easter, usually a time when I am gorging myself with chocolates and hot cross buns, but here in India it is almost a non-event, except that banks are closed and my Hindu maid has decided to take the day off. So sitting here I started reflecting back on some time I spent in…
The Magic of Rural Rajasthan: Luxury Experience

During my travels in India, I have usually done it quite rough, with the one exception where I had a slice of luxury in Jaipur. So when my friend was asked to visit a luxury property in rural Rajasthan I jumped at the chance to go with her. From the website, Lakshman Sagar looked nice,…
The Magic of Rural Rajasthan: Homestay Experience

When I was invited to visit a homestay in rural Rajasthan I just could not say yes quick enough. It had been almost a year since I was last in Rajasthan and since my visit to Kutch, I had found myself fantasising about getting back to rural India. The grime and congestion of Mumbai has…
Exploring Bollywood

Anyone who knows me knows I am not really a huge fan of Bollywood. I have however found that living in India you kind of absorb information about Bollywood almost subliminally. My parents on the other hand are huge Bollywood fans, and have a rather large collection of Hindi films back home in Australia. So…
Theft on Indian Railways

Yes, as you can tell by the title, theft on Indian Railways really does happen unfortunately. I travelled Indian Railways through most of my backpacking journeys across India, and in 9 months never had anything stolen nor felt unsafe. That is until a recent trip, which has now left me with a rather bad taste…
Dating in India: More Than Just Marriage

I was recently asked to write a relationship column for a fantastic online magazine here in India called Women’s Web. My first topic is about dating in India, something I have written about before here and here. These posts have been topics of great controversy, but they are based purely on my own experience and…
Mumbai: Crawford Market

Crawford Market is one of those iconic places in Mumbai. You can buy anything here from fresh veggies to precious jewellery. There are several different sections to the market that stretches out over several blocks, with different regions each specialising in specific products. Starting at the fruit and vegetable market, a grand old building… we…
Foodie Post: A Gujarati Barbeque – Matla Undhiyu

It has been a while since I wrote about some of the wonderful food I have been eating, and what better way than to rave about one from home – Matla Undhiyu. I tried this when I was visiting my family in Vadodara, Gujarat recently, and my cousin explained it to me as a Gujarati…
Keeping the Poor Down: India’s Growth Strategy

I really struggle with seeing the poverty in India, and I have posted before about my struggles with poverty, charity, apathy towards the poor and my observations of some of the middle class. I have come to the conclusion that here in India it is not in the interests of anyone with power or money…