Raj Against the Machine

The Taj, Indy, Jnr Misssy and Misssy M

I’m twelve days into India and I still don’t know how I feel about the place.

It’s too easy to say “ I hate India” yet this seems to have been my mantra over the last week or so. I have woken up saying it, and I have used variations on the phrase throughout the day. It has helped a lot. Specially when I pepper it with swearies.

This is a hard place to be. And I’m living in relative luxury. So really, I’ve got a cheek.

You might be surprised at my attitude. Surely Misssy is one of those people who loves to travel, and yes, I am. But India is different. I have never been so appalled at the state of anywhere I’ve ever been for so many and varied reasons. I have never been put in positions that have tested my patience as much, or made me close my eyes and grit my teeth to get through them. And clutch my children's hands so tight they might break off...Indy and Junior Misssy may need some time and space away from me when we get home, as I have been clamping them to me, like a paranoid lioness.

Sorry for not being able to post regularly, folks. I wish I had been able to…you would have been able to chart my feelings day by day, had I time to type, an internet connection or the energy to get my head round things. I also would have been able keep track on everything we have done and seen. It has been strange and irritating not being able to write the day up. But I have been keeping notes to remind me how I felt and it's all scribbled or in my brain ready to spew forth.

Annoyingly, for you, now that I’ve a connection and some free time I am going to post a couple of stories from the trip in rapid succession. There might be heaps...it'll depend on what India chucks at us in the next few days.

I also wanted to speak to my Mum and my Mother in Law first to reassure them that we’re all safe and OK, as they both read the Misssives and would worry given some of the things I am going to write about. So I did that last night and they are both gamely pretending that they are not at their wit’s end.

More very soon…probably in the next few hours. I’m now off for tea. Mmmm, hope it’s curry, haven’t had one of those in ages…..

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