The Madurai Residency

... definitely the worst 'alter ego' possible for a superhero). The movie is full of action scenes that seem taken directly from 'Mission Impossible' or 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', and Bollywood-like musical scenes woven into the script where main actors wear like pimps / Tony Manero (guys) or like a sweet version of a 'femme fatale' / J. Lo (girls). It will most likely not win a prize in Cannes, but a visit to India is incomplete without an afternoon at the movies.

... concrete houses and straw huts, my ever polite English manners crossed that it was concrete and I could stick it out for one night.

Tired after traveling but wide awake with wonder we arrived at a steel gated, two story, three roomed concrete house. 'Home' for what became a very enjoyable, enlightening, photo taking week.

No open defecation required!

... the World. With huge sculptured gates (ach approx. 150 mtrs tall) & thousands sculptured pillars. Beautiful architecture.' Thank you Sanjeev - I didn't know. Temples in Bangalore, Madurai, Hampi http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 1051&id=1387922267&l=fdcb8df2ec POLISH Z Amritapuri - Kollam pojechalismy pociagiem do Madurai - ok 9 godzin. Madurai jest to duzy osrodek sakralny, wiekowe miasto, gdzie rozwijala sie sztuka i literatura, a takze kwitl ...

... some chappati bread. So it was that we discovered the train courier service guys who will run food from the platforms for you in during the brief stops. As night started to fall, the legitimate ticket holders of our sleeper beds boarded the train and we had to vacate the seats and walk with our packs through the very narrow aisles for the entire length of the moving train whilst trying not to bump into limbs or spill people's banana leaf thali ...

... eyes and flicking V's at me, and I didn't like it. When the power was finally restored, we turned on the television to see the Mumbai attack in full swing. We were flabbergasted. The mood in India changed after that; you could sense it in the air. I know the feeling well because it was the same feeling that I had had in London after the bombings there - a sense that somehow your world had been violated and transformed into something sinister. It's not that we felt unsafe at all ...

... reluctant due to the intensity of the odd situation bustling by. As perhaps a white guy does when in a strange situation, I scanned the incoming masses in an attempt to locate any foreigners who might be inclined to venture forth. After some time I found a couple of people wading through the crowds, and I snuck in behind them. I walked along a narrow sand corridor lined on one side with a large fence and the other with vendor stalls. The sale item of choice ...

... were about 6 people were hanging out, into a small room with an armoire and a cot. After a few seconds, this Indian guy came in, and introduced himself with a flawless English accent. He sat us down in the cot, which was at one end of the room as he placed himself in the floor, at about 4 feet from us. Next to him, sat two other men: one guy we did not know and our guide. We formed a sort of cirlce. The magician said he ...

... I still tried to make the most of my last day in India. I never ended up getting postcards until I got back to the ship later on that evening, but I got them and that's really all that matters. I wanted to make one last pass through Spencer's Plaza to see if I could get the things I wanted that I hadn't found, but never got there because the other girls wanted to stay at the house longer, and we didn't get back to the ship until 7:30, and that is usually the latest I get on the ship ...

... for India the solution to the great problems of today can not be expected to come from politicians or Big Business. India is a vast nation of a few big cities and thousands of villages and small-scale schemes seem to often be the most effective. Soon, the Indian Post Office will be training their postmen in the science and philosophy of effective contraception. In Indian society the postman does not just deliver the mail but quite often reads it out to illiterates and his advice ...