From London to Delhi Overland: Fifty Years Ago

 Introduction.

 

In early September 1971 aged nineteen, two years after leaving boarding school, I took a bus for a ten week journey overland to India. A great-aunt had left me and my brothers £500 each, and I was excited to have this extraordinary opportunity to learn about the world first hand.

 

We are approaching the ending of our second year dominated by the COVID virus which is severely restricting travel. The people of Afghanistan are being subjected to further devastation and pain. Political, economic, and social disturbance are on the increase throughout the globe. Floods and fires signal climate breakdown. Fear causes people to retreat into isolation and aggression towards those who are different, in the hope that clinging on to the prejudices of the past will lead to a more secure future. Information flies instantly around the world with no reference to the true or the false.

 

Consequently, I have decided to create a series of blogs that will follow my journey from London to Delhi as a reflective experience to understand this personal journey as a human being. I write to understand the world around me, to explore what life is, and to come to terms with ageing. I feel that I am writing within the context of the totality of human consciousness, not as a single, separate being.

 

My intention is to produce a series of four blogs outlining the journey that will be relatively brief and accessible. The first one will appear this weekend.

 

Who will read them? I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter.