OT You left India as a young man. How often have you returned
Indra Sinha Regularly, since my association with the Bhopal survivors began in the mid-90s, but before that there was a 15-year gap.
OT Any memorable journeys
Indra Sinha From Kathmandu to Nepalganj, an airstrip on the Nepali side of the border. Our tiny plane whirred into the air like a metal grasshopper the high Himalaya rose up behind the foothills, white and shining for hundreds of miles. Nepalganj airport was a grass field, the terminal a hut a small road vanished into fields of sugarcane, not a vehicle in sight, much less the taxi I had promised Vickie (my wife). A boy leant his bicycle against a tree, came forward shyly and said, &ldquoIndra I am Shobha. Grandfather sent me to fetch you.&rdquo He flagged down a passing bullock cart and negotiated passage to the border. Vickie sat on the luggage, Tara (my daughter, then aged two) in her lap, Shobha on his bike, held onto the tail of the cart, I walked alongside, through the thick sugarcane fields into which Nana Saheb and his defeated army had vanished 125 years earlier.
At the border, two square brick buildings, and an amazed Indian customs officer. Ours were the first overseas passports he had seen in six months, he told us. Hearing grandfather&rsquos name he said, &ldquoBut I know him&rdquo He telephoned Nanpara PO telling them to tell Iqbal Bahadur sahib that his family had arrived safely. Chairs were set in the shade tea appeared, as did a photo album of his family. We passed a pleasant hour before the bus took us all away to grandfather and new adventures. I want to tell this story properly one day in a book of travel writings.
OT A busy advertising career, the online addiction you describe in The Cybergypsies was there time for travel
Indra Sinha We never had much money for travel when the children were young, but over the years we&rsquove seen quite a bit of Europe and of course the dear old UK. I loved living in England and love living in France. Our best family holiday was a six-week tour of France, Switzerland and Italy, with two weeks in the Lot, where we now live. In fact it is directly because of that holiday that we are now there.
OT You just visited the most touristy destinations in India Rajasthan and Goa...
Indra Sinha A lot of people I know in Rajasthan are turning their houses into heritage hotels. There is a sort of build-your-own-haveli emporium where you can buy ancient carved doors, jharokhas, silver furniture, rugs and hangings, everything you need for instant Rajasthan. The Jaipur Festival was Disneyworld, complete with elephants and fire-eaters old Rajputana would have been dancing girls and opium. Goa is wonderful, when you get used to it. From Candolim to Calangute you get the same tourist tack as in Rajasthan all that&rsquos missing is Goa. Old Goa is still there an outsider has to work a little to discover and get into it. Having loved John Berendt&rsquos books about Savannah and Venice (and loved being with John too and learning how he came to write them), I keep thinking there is something to be done either on Rajasthan or Goa. Or both. But I have a number of novels to write, so I don&rsquot know when I might get time for travel writing.
OT Have you seen any great writing about India
Indra Sinha I am rather sick of books about India. I would rather read books about Brazil, or Cuba, or the Congo, or somewhere I&rsquod like to visit.