I have returned / My warriors come with me now

...faaaaarking hell.

I haven't felt so tired since... well, practically since I was born. My journey to India was unbelievable, but it was also unbelievably challenging. I didn't want to go in with a plan, much less buy a tour or shit like that, so I reached New Delhi with nothing other than my money and a contact. The rest I improvised it all. It engaged me mentally, physically, financially, logistically, theoretically, practically. It was total. It was, I think, the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life. And it's going to stay with me forever.

The image above gives an idea of the trajectory I took. From Delhi to Haridwar, brief stop by Gurgaon, then to Chennai, to Hyderabad, to Mumbai, to Goa, to Jaipur, to Agra, and back to Delhi for the plane home. Most of it was done by train (Sleeper class, it rocked!), the two longest journeys by flight. And if you're wondering, yes, of course the idea of drawing an 'A' over India was intentional. Couldn't leave without leaving my signature. :D

The very least I can do, before I do anything else, is give a GIGANTIC thank you to Ashwini Sinhal and Ratul Chakraborty for their help and assistance in New Delhi and Mumbai respectively. Thanks, guys. You gave me more support than I can tell, and spared me more trouble than I can imagine. Any time you come to Europe, give a call, and if I'm in your vicinity, I'll try and be by your side.

I was originally planning on filling up a couple of posts with the narration of my frog-leaping from one side of the most crowded nation on the planet to the other. But now that I'm back, I feel like I need to clear my head before I start formulating everything that I saw. I did keep a journal, and it's got sixteen entries, but it was not written with a view for publication, and I don't think it would make for good material were I to transcribe it on here. So for now, at least, this entry will be all that the Rant Machine will say about India.

Wondering what to discuss next, there's actually quite a few things to go. Someone dubbed me a "silly tart" and asked me to go back to writing funny posts, and I'm tempted to do a bit of that. Fred asked that I elaborate my thoughts on Avatar, and to be fair I've been wanting to do that for a while. Then there's Twilight, which I recently killed off on the trains in India, and that deserves some discussion (because anything that at least a hundred million people discuss, I need to discuss as well. I *am* a critic, dammit!!). And in the meantime, I have my work as sports journalist to pick up and an engagement with a poetry magazine to produce a few articles on poetic matters. So plenty to do.

I'm going to close this entry here. There was some wise shit that I almost took off on saying, but I really don't want to. I think the Rant Machine is really not the right place for me to get all aphoristic and existential. The wisdom shall remain interior. And may the force be with you, of course.

There is no adventure without improvisation, fellas. Peace out.