British Expat Newsletter:
9 July 2003
This week: the death penalty – in India, the UK and Guantanamo.
Rip-off!
“A seemingly well-meaning guy with a cloth pointed out a fresh blat of runny cow dung on my shoe and offered to remove it for me. Hang on a minute. I only stepped out of the car a moment ago and if I’d trodden on something it would be under my shoe, not over it.” Stravaig reflects on some of the more common scams in Delhi, and the economic realities behind them.
British Kite Mark
“Forget Afghanistan, forget the tensions between Pakistan and India. Forget the possibility of terrorist attacks on foreigners. And forget that they’re trying to change the right-of-way rule on roundabouts (scary!). The currently most dangerous thing about living in Delhi is the birds.” Stravaig has a brush with a pariah kite!
The Fairy Queen
Interesting facts and features Built in 1855 by Kitson, Thompson & Hewitson, UK, for the then East Indian Railway (EIR) weight: 26 tonnes coal tender :…
A trip on the Fairy Queen
“If you want to get from A to B quickly, don’t go on the world’s oldest working steam locomotive, the Fairy Queen. Part of the charm of such a trip is its unpredictability. And the “old lady”, as she’s affectionately known by some, certainly is charming.” Kay McMahon tells of her weekend trip on Indian Rail’s Fairy Queen, pulled by the world’s oldest main-line steam locomotive.
Monkey business
Primate pranks take up Stravaig’s attention in this instalment of her column about life in Delhi.