Traveling back to India was always going to be the big adventure for me – especially with Sascha, Samuel and Elliot in tow, and much more given Samuel’s recent neurological adventure.  Going by all reports it was plainly going to be quite literally a shock to the system and for a while it just seemed ill advised to travel here with the kids just right now.  Then everything came together very suddenly in early January and here we now are in my childhood home .

I am pleased to report that a few days in, we have relished our short stay in Delhi with the gorgeous Livingstons and survived 5 hours at Agra. Delhi could have easily been a much longer stay, it was pretty special being with family, I predict this part of our trip will stick in our minds as our favourite.

Arrival into Delhi was smooth enough with some predicted excessive queuing thrown in. In the air, the Jet Air passengers and food gave us a little foretaste of India. The little things have brought back memories, the colour of the light and the sky, the smells, the sights, which haven’t really changed if you exclude the mobile phones, traffic, metro, fly overs and sheer numbers of people. The warmth of the Livingston family welcome made us feel right at home, we were truly spoilt and cared for by Sharmila, Randall and Beena! We miss them  (and their roti!). We spent gorgeous Nizamudeen mornings spent lazing in the sun as Beena served up hot sweet chai and papaya and chiku, not to mention aloo ka paratha and pancakes topped with guava and apple compote. I have enjoyed sharing everything familiar to me with Tim and the kids.

Highlights of our visit here were Rasai shopping at Khan market within hours of touching down in Delhi (where I think I remember Mama buying me a game straight after school one day to commend good work). Walking in Lodhi gardens in the evening  with the Livingstons, doing a drive by night of the president’s palace and India gate and carrying a sleeping Elliot into the best Dosa place in town.

Humayun’s tomb was peaceful and stunning and Qutab Minar very big! Getting this close to our old neighbourhood in Delhi made me feel nostalgic and meeting up with David Alexander was a treat for us all. We will fondly remember wandering around the beautiful Sundar Nagar nursery and learning the art of Indian negociation from Sharmila. Randall took us deep into the centre of old Nizamudeen,where women were a rare sight especially near midnight – once again emphasizing the lack of real change despite appearances.

As for Agra. It is done. It was worth the visit for the Taj and the fort, but the crowds are something else, I am not sure we will need to go back there again – ever!  I might have made history there by being the first foreign woman to pilot a cycle rickshaw en route to the fort and had the proprietor run beside us before jumping on….he was very light, unfortunately no pictures of this!

Our Agra day culminated in a maniacal drive to Ranthambore in the same number of hours as prescribed by Google. Obviously no one at Google has actually driven that distance. I feel lucky to be alive and would not want to repeat that drive!