Gurgaon

Been to Gurgaon mid-week. As compared to the hype, the city did not impress me at all. Roads were horrible, there is a permanent dust bowl in the air, there is no visible public transport system and I am told the sewerage system is virtually non-existent. So much for the emerging cities of India

Goldfish Have no Hiding Place

James Hadley Chase thrillers have remained with me for the past more than 20 years reading them intermittently. I finished yet another thriller "Goldfish Have no Hiding Place". It is a typical fast paced murder mystery with a lot of drama in it.

"Cruelly Murdered"

Just finished reading "Cruelly Murdered" by Bernard Taylor a true account of a sensational murder that took place in England in 1860. That with the sad upbringing of the killer, unsolved nature of the crime, her subsequent remorse, confession, living in jail for a full term of twenty years and her after-jail work for the downtrodden made for good reading.

"Riding the Ranges"

Just finished reading "Riding the Ranges" by Bill Aitken, a Scotsman who has made India his home for the last five decades. He has ridden his motorbike across the Himalaya and Sahyadri ranges, two most important mountain ranges in India. It is an easy read book of his travels to places like Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, the Deccan, Western Ghats and the various small towns dotting the Himalayan landscape. As a travelogue, it is a different kind, since it is undertaken on his motorbike, so he has dwelt some time on the motorbike related problems while travelling.