Reading an article in the Times today (www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7087627.ece) about Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) workers being paid a “hardship” allowance in certain countries really made me laugh. That’s because Dubai, the emirate with better living conditions that we enjoy in Britain, was included on the list. The FCO […]
There would be horror in many circles in Britain if you had two queues, one for ‘UK nationals’ and the other for ‘foreigners’ at our major tourist attractions. Yet in India this segregation has long been a reality. What’s more, from the Taj Mahal in Agra to the […]
Going to the cinema in India is a completely different experience to watching a film back in Britain. People cheer, they laugh, they boo, they wail and they applaud. Mobile phones go off and cinema goers end up having fool blown conversations. But no-one complains about these disturbances, […]
When I was told earlier that there was a good chance that the clothes I’d arranged to have washed could have gone to Mumbai’s biggest open air laundry I was worried. I thought I would never see my pair of jeans and two shirts again. What I saw […]
I’m in sitting in a swish bar at the Taj Palace and Hotel in the centre of Mumbai. Peering out the window, the iconic Gateway to India is lit up. Indians, plus a few expats, gather in front of it and enjoying the warm evening. This is the […]
They are probably the dirtiest streets and alleyways that I’ve ever walked along. Filthy water pours out of small factories, goats roam free and waste is piled high. I’m just a visitor, for some people the tumbling shacks, where large families sleep cramped in small rooms, this is […]
Walking around the Fort and Colaba areas of Mumbai reminds me at times of Britain’s capital, London. There’s a museum with a resemblance to London’s British Museum, the Victoria Terminus train station is modelled on St Pancras and then there are countless fenced off gardens in the centre […]
Air India has been losing a lot of money for some time now. Even merging with Indian Airlines, a fellow state owned carrier, has not been able to improve performance. Many analysts blame the rise of no frills airlines like Kingfisher, Spice Jet and Jet Lite. Advertising hoardings […]
If it wasn’t for the hot weather and blue sky, this could be a British seaside report like Blackpool. Europeans on package holidays hang out at beach shacks named ‘Weather Spoons’, ‘Sam’s Bar’ and the like. They go straight for the full English breakfasts on the menu, washed […]
Past In The Present 