Thursday 2 July 2009

Ana Takes a Break!


I take the golden road to Samarkand. Well, actually, I’m off to India for three weeks, leaving tomorrow. It’s a place I’ve wanted to visit ever since I saw the exhibition on Chola Art at the Royal Academy a couple of years ago, with those beautiful, sensuous dancing Shivas. Also, my grandfather served in the British Indian Army before the Second World War, and with General Sir William Slim in both India and Burma during it, so I grew up with all sorts of tales of the Subcontinent. And although it may not be very fashionable to say so, I love the stories of Rudyard Kipling, particularly Kim and Plain Tales from the Hills. So I hope to discover, in the brief time that I have, traces of the great days of the Raj and the deeper India, the older India of the Mughals and the Chola Empire. Ambitious, yes, but I’ve always been ambitious…and restless.

Did I hear a collective sigh of relief? :-)) Have a great summer, guys.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Ana,
    After following your beautiful blog since last week, I must admit that you are a talented writer.
    I am glad that you will be traveling to India.
    I hope that you will be visiting Jakarta, Indonesia.
    Bon voyage!
    Harry

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  2. OMG! you're adorable!

    have fun!

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  3. Thank you, Sonia :-) Harry, I did not manage to cover as much of India as I had intended, let alone make it to Jakarta! Some other time. :-)

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  4. Of Cambala, seat of Cathian Can,
    And Samarchand by Oxus, Timur's Throne
    To Paquin of Sinaean Kings; and thence
    To Agra and Lahore of Great Mughal.


    (John Milton. Paradise Lost).

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