An Indian Love Affair

Book excerpt: In the early 1960s, travel-writer Simon Gandolfi drove a VW from England to Goa where he rented a bungalow on the beach at Calangute. And it was on Calangute beach that Gandolfi met and loved Vanessa and explored with her much of the subcontinent. The 2008 terrorist attack on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai prompted Gandolfi to re-explore the subcontinent on a small motorcycle. Collecting a Honda 125 from the factory outside Delhi, he rode for six months and 12,000 kilometres. He rediscovers the rented bungalow become a beach bar, his and Vanessa's bedroom a bottle store - and he learns of Vanessa's death soon after their parting. Memories of his travels with Vanessa became his companions as he continued his ride and are the connecting link in this chronicle of two journeys in which Gandolfi explores both the changes in India and in himself.