Near Wardha, India

Well, it's been quite a trip: from Dublin to Dubai to Mumbai, then an internal flight to Nagpur, then a one and half hour drive to Wardha University, where I am staying for five days, before heading to Mumbai where I'll be based till we leave India on the 22nd.

Quick impressions:

Between crummy movies I glance at the flight monitor graphic, which shows our cartoon plane winging blithely above Baghdad, then, a little later, Basrah. I make our sparse lights, some of which seem overly bright, furnace-orange, flickering. Bombed towns? Fires from some souls' infernos? Or something less alarming, like oil wells?

Dubai airport was all polished surfaces and reflections. too Tired by then to consider taking photos. Cup of tea and a beer= 12 euros. No surprise really, though Gabriel was shocked.

Began to notice the huge weather systems as we approached Mumbai, huge coral-white clouds in the shape of atomic toadstools, a country bombed by the monsoon. became sad for some reason. Effects of jet lag perhaps, thinking of my mother and how she'd love to see this, how I can't report anything else to her.

Landing in Mumbai we note that the airport is lapped by a huge favela, the kind you see surrounding cities like Rio. Oddly, many of the roofs are painted the same shade of inky blue. A sacred colour? Or just the cheapest paint on offer?

Even before we enter the airport it's clear that it is in need of more than a few licks of paint.

More later, have to rush now!





night when we landed in Dubai, the city