Picture book diary

All I ever seem to do is write. Posters, brochures, manifestos on women's human rights, all of them so flowery they leave you bouquet-heady with the delights of Indian idioms.

Here are some pictures to speak some words:


The view from the Charminar in Hyderabad - the busiest city I have ever set my sandal in. A truly wonderful, disorientating place.


Finishing my book on the train back to Vijayawada. We stood in the open doorway for the last hour as the train pulled in, racing across the vast moonlit river from Gunter district.


Only hanging out in a private members club with some friends - yes, I said friends. So what if they're just the guys that fix my laptop?


The beach at Machilipatnam - less swimming, more speeding in a motorbike/autorickaw with your entire extended family on board. Still, I dipped in the sea and swam in all of my clothes, appearing, as far as the reaction of other beach-goers tells me, like a ginger sea monster.