Any Excuse to Travel

Stories from travels in

December 2015

Adamant or rude?

I need to learn how to say no. A firm, authoritative, no. One that brooks no argument. It doesn’t need an exclamation mark. Or any

Men chatting marrakesh

Fear or propriety?

I can sit for hours and watch the world go by, blatantly staring at the teeming masses that flow back and forth as I sit

Bullied and bloody-minded – a day in Delhi

Way back in the early 1980s, when faced with the choice of moving to Dublin or making the 20-mile commute up and back each day,

Originality? The Baby Taj

What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said

Weird but wonderful Agra

The cows I’d gotten used to. The dogs, too. But turning a corner and coming face to face with a camel while monkeys cavorted like

Craftsmen at work in Agra

With so many of the world’s corporates searching for cheaper and cheaper labour, outsourcing has become a way of life. The uncertainty that comes with

Christmas wish from India

The world is in a mess, a terrible mess. Decisions being made in the hallowed halls of power in one country are affecting the lives

The mists of time

Had I been one of Shah Jahan’s harem, I might have had to do my wifely duties once, say, every 18 months. Had I not

Fortified and flirtatious

I’m not used to young men, either on their own or in groups, blatantly giving me the eye. Initially it was a little disconcerting but

Before and after

Where did it all go wrong? Way back, long before electricity was born, long before we had drills and jack hammers and tall cranes, long