alice's peephole

“If travel was free, you would never see me again!” To all those that shared this juvenile status on various social media I say this - “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”   - Proust I waited until Cologne felt like home before travelling. My trip to Frankfurt did not count I think, because I was somehow very India-sick then, and went to visit a familiar face. I did like the city, a strange mix between fast paced financial capital and measured German lifestyle. The ‘Alte Oper’ and the ‘Hauptwache’ right in the middle of the financial district, surrounded by high rises is a great example of this country’s ability to restore the past to blend it into the future. I must admit though, I enjoyed the smell of Indian spices, the comfort of a big sofa and a bigger TV, the bathtub and conversation more. Paris is a different story. To begin with, my ‘chaddi buddy’ was there. Even if it was the Sahara desert it woul...

“Are you a hill girl or a beach girl”, my friend asked me. I briefly considered, comparing my vacation in Goa to Bhutan. I am definitely a hill girl! Aside from a bothersome sun allergy and a tiresome shellfish allergy, beaches just don’t seem to – talk to me. I had coaxed my friends into this trip to Chikmaglur, a rushed plan interspersed with liberal amounts of emotional blackmail. Until Thursday, when my chief local tour guide informed me about the leeches to be found in abundance in the area, I gracefully told them to go ahead without me. After quite a few hours of entertainment at my expense, all parties realized I was seriously terrified of these blood-sucking monsters and assured me that there wouldn’t be any inside the house.   To calm my hysteria I was also helpfully informed that they were smaller than the ones ‘up-north’, that the ‘little fellows fell off on their own once they were done’ and how a cigarette burn or some salt will cut short their feast. Chikmag...