First Trip

The other night we went to our friends’ house for dinner. We were invited because they’re planning a trip to India and Sri Lanka, and we, like the ten or twelve other people invited, have often been to the Subcontinent. The idea was that we could all give travel advice and have a good time. And we did have a good time, and give lots of travel advice, but the evening was a little awkward.

People travel to the Subcontinent for so many different reasons. The dinner party crowd was a perfect example. There was a videographer, a temple enthusiast, a human rights worker, a dancer, a photographer, and an Indian crafts-store owner. And because many of these people have been going to the Subcontinent regularly since the early 1970s, there were inevitably strongly held feelings and conflicting views.