Ali Despite being in China, a treasure-trove of a country in its own right, I find my heart still leaning towards India. I miss its people, I miss its energy, I miss its land, its music, its movies… And so it was with great pleasure that I meet Ali, heralding from Pakistan (close enough for me, though India's natives may be rather appalled at my parallel), on the overnight train journey from Shanghai to Beijing. Ali has been living in China for the last f...

Ali Despite being in China, a treasure-trove of a country in its own right, I find my heart still leaning towards India. I miss its people, I miss its energy, I miss its land, its music, its movies… And so it was with great pleasure that I meet Ali, heralding from Pakistan (close enough for me, though India's natives may be rather appalled at my parallel), on the overnight train journey from Shanghai to Beijing. Ali has been living in China for the last f...

Thomas and Jayan The dynamic duo live in the top floor appartment in Kondapur, Hi-Tec City, Hyderabad.

Class of 2009 The French-influenced city of Pondicherry provided a pleasant stay for one night. The streets around the French Quarter, and even in the southern parts of the more familiar Indian side, were unrecognisably quiet. The French quarter in particular contained long stretches of suburban tree-lined streets bordered on both sides by many French-style building facades. The sea-side walk was scenic and most attractively for me was filled with vendors sellin...

Eileen Going from Chalakudy to Trivandrum to meet Eileen, I made it to a bed in the sleeper carriage of the train in the end, thanks to a bit of luck and the nice conductor who took me to an empty bed within minutes of seeing the small tired me surrounded by big bags. Arunima was right about the few advantages of being a lone female traveler in India. Still, I started the journey annoyed when, trusting a local traveler, I had let an earlier train going to the sa...