gross [inter]national happiness

You've read Shantaram right? It's a classic, if a little hefty, tome based around some real life events in Bombay's underworld in the 1980s. Jo and I were both reading this book, coincidentally, at the beginning of our relationship and now, on arrival in Bombay/Mumbai, its stories came flooding back as we walked the streets of the city's southern Colaba district. We found ourselves staying, purely by accident, in a hotel on the floor above the India Guest House, we downed a few beers in the atmospheric Leopold Café, we imagined ourselves flying down the Colaba Causeway on a Royal Enfield motorbike with our hair flapping in the breeze (ahem) and we determined to not do anything that might lead us inside the Colaba Police Station. That kept us busy for about a day , and then we started to really revel in being in a big city for the first time since we'd left London more than two months previous. Little things at first, like there being pavements. We had got so

The nicer of the two Monkeys, bloody monkeys. Everywhere in Bundi, black faces and red faces. Two tribes. According to the locals the red faces are the the baddies and naughty they were. So much so that when visiting the palace at Bundi you are given a rather large stick to keep them at bay. You may remember the post called ' Stupas and Steps ' I don't like monkeys at best. So visiting the palace wasn't the most relaxing memory I'll take away with me. What I will remember, however, are the beautiful and pretty well kept, in relative terms, murals on the interior walls. Ornate depictions of Palace life. Royal processions, peacocks and shivas everywhere. The palace itself was again, I'm sad to say, terribly run down, mostly closed off and residence to an army of bats but gave beautiful views across Brahmin-blue Bundi. I will also remember new friends we made . Kristy and Rich from Perth. We spent lovely evenings with them talking about our travels and l