On the 13th of January I arrived in Jaipur, the pink city of India, the color of hospitality. Jaipur is in the province of Rajasthan, where the Maharajas, the princes, used to rule before the English imperialists came. Now the many palaces and forts still remind of that time. The city overwhelms the senses with its many colors and people and traffic. There are wide boulevards, monuments on every roundabout, many grand buildings and even a ‘Central Park’ with fountains that light up at night. The economical growth has had a positive effect on this town, it seems, since I was here 8 years ago. So much more clean. And I am staying at Diggi Palace, a heritage hotel that feels like home, with a beautiful garden filled with trees, flowers and special birds. A little paradise in this busy town.

I traveled to Jaipur for an International Cultural Festival. For 10 days there was going to be a full program with artists from all over the world. There were performances, concerts and exhibitions in an ambience of forts, temples and palaces. It was truly amazing. One evening I was watching a concert of a Spanish guitarist playing with local musicians, and Salman Rushdie sat beside me on one side, William Dalrymple on the other. They were there for the literature part of the festival, great authors from all over the world that have a connection with India were invited. After being at the foot of the Himalayas for some time I felt dried out, my soul longing for the city life, for the culture and arts. Jaipur gave everything, it was a magical time.

After the festival was finished an Italian friend with whom I shared a passion for food, asked me to come and eat fresh fish. I was surprised as we were in the desert. A couple of days later we were on our way to South India, Goa, to the beaches and palm trees to enjoy 10 days of being in paradise.

I traveled back to Jaipur for an International Festival for short cultural movies, it was interesting. Short movies were shown from 33 countries all over the world, some bad some great. The last evening, after the awards were presented, they invited me to celebrate with the organizers, sponsors, film makers from India, Italy, Lebanon, Austria, Bollywood stars and drank Indian champagne with them.

After the festival finished my friends in Hotel Diggi Palace left and it felt like time to move on. My Belgium friends Miek and Peet had emailed that they had arrived in Benares (Varanasi) and were going to stay there for some time. From Jaipur there was a direct train connection to Benares, taking only 24 hours….