DEL>GOI

THE BEACH AT PALOLEM, GOA It was easy going in Srinagar but a familiar hammer was going off: The infinite compulsion to venture someplace new or otherwise, if only to change the scenery. I stifled this sensation for two weeks easily, but for one ennuitic week I mulled and dithered over my next move. Then, one drizzly day I bought a ticket, and flew south to Delhi the following morning, with no onward destination. It certainly could not be in that city for long though, for it was getting hotter and grittier daily, as both summer and the Commonwealth Games were quickly approaching, and the whole city was a mess of construction. Connaught Place was a dusty, impassible ruin, and all the traffic was a bore. From Delhi I could travel anywhere. Many friends from winter at Gulmarg had flown cheaply to Sri Lanka, and a strong temptation was pulling me that way as well. The fundamental problem facing me, causing my indecision was flying in the face of logic. All the world of India in motion seemed to be going north in search of cooler weather, and the move I had just made, flying south from Kashmir, in the opposite direction, was against the grain.