Jodhpur. Funny name. No matter how long I've been here I can't help thinking of baggy pants, horsie types and toffs from the country, and yet nothing could be further from the truth. While this is quite a bustling, friendly little town, it's full of the as-now expected street filth, dubious odours and rickshaw wallahs that plague India. Not all bad though. There's a busy market, a clocktower which is illuminated in the evening and always reminds me of Ormskirk, and Meherangarh, the mightiest fort in Rajasthan.
Well, four days it tok me to get over whatever kind of food poisoning it was that I brought from Jaisalmer. Four bastard days! I could hardly eat, I felt like there was a rock in my chest smouldering away, and I had to take breaks to rest between flights of stairs like an old man. Welcome to India! By yesterday the worst had passed and I visited the fort. It's a monster of a thing built up on a craggy rock overlooking the town, the old part of which is painted blue and looks proper cool. An affluent lot, these maharajas.
Almost out of the blue, I've found myself preparing to board a train for Bombay, TODAY at 6:45. I hadn't expected there to be any tickets left, what with it being diwali and all. So from now on I have to pack, wash, eat, and finish my book! I'm not looking forward to dealing with Bombay, not least because the train I'm on stops miles outside the city centre, then I'll have to navigate the journey to the centre, find a place to stay, and get straight onto booking tickets for Goa. The plan is to spend as little time in Bombay as possible, go to Goa and find a beach for a couple of days, before going back to Bombay in time for the 20th and getting on a plane for Rome. In two weeks I'll be in Italy! Coffee, good food, SAFE food, more coffee, legible script, and no fucking hawkers! Hold that thought!
