Monsoon Meandering

Madhu from 10YearItch.com (picture shamelessly pinched from Madhu's site in the hope you go and visit it!)

The Delhi part of our trip was always about meeting friends I’d made through IndiaMike.com or Facebook or both. On Saturday night it was our Food Enthusiasts of Delhi evening with Shashank, Sunday morning should have been about Yogesh and lunchtime was all about Madhu.

I “met” Madhu through IndiaMike and his own blog 10YearItch.com, which details the travels in India he’s been doing pretty much solidly since the Autumn of 2009. There’s not many parts of India that Madhu and his wife haven’t seen and I’d really recommend visting his blog if you’re remotely interested in visiting any part of India.

I was originally drawn to their experiences of Ladakh but after switching to our current plan I found all the new places had already been seen by Madhu and Savita. What sets out their blog from most others is that there’s is well planned out and most importantly has great pictures on it, not your useful digicam rubbish.

As a shameless plug for him, through the 10YearItch site Madhu will help any not-so-intrepid explorers plan a tailor-made Indian holiday.

My original idea was to take Madhu and Savita out as a way to say thank you for all the helpful advice they’ve given me. With Savita away I still had plans of at least buying Madhu lunch. It’s a nice idea but I’m coming to learn just how hospitable Indian people are.

After lunch we had a worrying moment as the sight of one Indian with a family of foreigners raised the suspicions of an officer of the Army – or was it the Polce?. This wouldn’t normally be regarded as suspicious but we were in Connaught Place, the seemingly ancestral home of the touts and scammers.

After giving Madhu a hard time I was called over and explained we were friends but it wasn’t accepted. In a moment of inspiration I whipped out my mobile phone, scrolled to Madhu’s contact entry and showed it to the officer thinking all the time that this would get Madhu off the hook. I was dreading that I’d be asked to press the ‘dial’ button as I’m having trouble calling Indian mobile numbers here so it would have failed.

So Madhu if you’re reading this thank you for a wonderful time but I am paying next time! 🙂

If anyone fancies Madhu getting an intinery together for them then visit their site: