Hindustan Times
When I was 19, in the 1990s I dated this English guy who had had been to India.
Up to that point I had travelled to Europe and the US, but had not been anywhere considered ‘exotic’.
Yet, on our dates, he used to keep me riveted with his tales of India, wandering around in a lungi, living in a hut in the Himalayas and in a guest house in Paharganj. Read more
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Naomi Canton on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Filed under Mumbai · Tagged backpackers, backpacking, foreigners, India, paharganj
After spotting differences between the people loitering at Heathrow airport and those in Mumbai, (the peroxided hair and scowls on faces at Heathrow vs natural hair and energy of Mumbaikers) I have decided there are remarkable similarities between village life in the UK and in India. Read more
(12 votes, average: 3.83 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Naomi Canton on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Filed under Europe · Tagged Calvin Klein, Glastonbury Rock Festival, Heathrow, India, Liz Hurley, Mumbai, UK, UK in rural Somerset
I had one of those rare electric moments this week when I felt completely serene and relaxed, all my worries dissipated and Mumbai was the most beautiful city in the world.
I do not experience these moments: Read more
(10 votes, average: 3 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Naomi Canton on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Filed under Mumbai · Tagged Bangalore, Breach candy, colaba, Ghazals, India, juhu, Kirana store, Leela Palace, Linking road market, Mumbai, slums, Taj Mahal Palace, Taufiq Qureshi, The Novotel The Square restaurant
I went to see a play on Sunday about the clash between new and old India. The play portrayed new India as college graduates aspiring to be like the west.
They were typified by the English-speaking ones working in call centres, not only adopting American names and accents, but also learning pole dancing, losing their virginity and the women wearing strapless tops and boob tubes. Read more
(17 votes, average: 3.35 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Naomi Canton on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Filed under Mumbai · Tagged Americans, British Asians, India, Mumbai, Mumbai nightclub, Twitter, UK
I was standing in the Bandra bar Zenzi chatting to some Indian friends about ‘the recession.’
“England is really bad,” one said. “I have just come back from there and shops are closing down left right and centre. It’s really depressing.”
“Everyone wants to move to India,” another said. Read more
(10 votes, average: 4.9 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Naomi Canton on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Filed under Mumbai · Tagged Bandra bar Zenzi, economic downturn, England, India, Recession, UK and USA
On the plane to Goa at the weekend I read a story in a newspaper about a 13-year-old English boy who had fathered the baby of a 15-year-old teenage girl in the UK. Alfie Patten’s voice had not yet broken and his son had been born after one night of unprotected sex. It reminded me of several things I don’t miss about the UK and like about India: the breakdown of family values being one of them. Sex education is widespread in English schools; I am not even sure if it exists in India. But, I am yet to see a teenage single mum in India. Read more
(22 votes, average: 4.18 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Naomi Canton on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Filed under Mumbai · Tagged British girls, drugs, English men, English women, India, Indian men, Indian women, Sex education, UK
