Nish Kumar at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

A few evenings ago my sister reluctantly dragged me to see Nish Kumar, the stand up comedian, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  I’m not into stand up comedy but I laughed from beginning to end whilst sipping my delicious pear cider.

If you’ve never made it over to the Edinburgh Festival then put it on your bucket list it really lives up to its reputation as the biggest arts festival in the world. 

Escape Plan

One of my most glorious moments was when I beat the boy in Commando Challenge.

We are watching Commando, an Arnie classic circa 1980s. A challenge! “Let’s see who guesses most next lines”. Our eyes slit and we grit our teeth.

He, a lifelong Arnie worshipper, sneers at me. He knows he will win! He is a boy! And I am a girl!

I sneer back. I know I will win! Yes I am a girl! A girl from Scotland with shit cold summers, a fun  sister and Commando on vhs that we will watch 20 times. A week!!!

Crime and Punishment

I have a beautiful hard back copy of the literary classic, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  Even my copy with its font size 7 type it is the size of a brick.  I have been looking at it for years thinking about reading, feeling guilty that I hadn’t, so a few days ago I finally picked it up and read the foreword.   The following day one of my best friends rang me to say she had two tickets to watch Crime and Punishment at the Citz in Glasgow and I jumped with glee to be given a sneak preview into the book later that evening.

From Scotland With Love

Loads of my friends in London have never been further north than Manchester.  Scotland? Why go there when you can fly somewhere warm for the same price?  I understand that point, however, home is where the heart is and mine is firmly in Scotland.

I live in London and Delhi too and I love the difference in climate, culture and things to do.  A rather compact country, Scotland is best

Coming Into Fashion

Yesterday I had the pleasure of perusing the Condé Nast: Coming Into Fashion photography exhibition at the Edinburgh City Art Centre.  Displaying a century of fashion photography from the rich archive of some of the world’s best loved fashion magazines, it was an exhibition for lovers of beauty.

Beauty in a general sense of the meaning, not just because the models are beautiful. 

77 Year Drought Ended!

Wowwwww, Murray the Champ and I was there! I won £250 and got a pea-sized photo of Andy with his trophy (damn my rubbish phone!!)

What a fabulous day it was.  We drank champagne, ate bland sandwiches for £10 and we burned and burned in the searing heat. But it was all worth it

The Soul in the Space

One of India’s most respected and coveted couturiers, JJ Valaya is also set to dominate Indian fine art photography.  The Soul in the Space (A Journey of Architectural Influences) is now open to the public at gallery Nature Morte in Delhi.  JJ Valaya captures abstract architectural images from

Olympic Tangle

The ArcelorMittal Orbit opened last week as the newest addition to the London skyline and caused much debate.   Publicly funded, the structure was designed by artist Anish Kapoor and it offers a panoramic views from the top for an entry fee of £15.

Criticisms have been compared to

Cheap Heart

I was a student in the days where we all enjoyed a free university education and graduated without the debt woes of the current geeks.  I am Scottish and I have to say I am pretty ashamed of Scotland’s poor camaraderie with the rest of the UK when it comes to tuition fees. 

Ramadan Rumbles

Sounds gross but have you ever had a three course breakfast in the space of 45 minutes?  Sleepily munching your Rice Krispies, followed hastily by daal and chapatti and finishing with fruit, cake and tea all before sunrise?

Hairy Berries

The Guardian has been urging us to eat raspberries now that they are in season and are local (especially Scottish) produce.  They grow wild in my back garden at home together with blackberries and I completely ignore them.

I know my sister and most of you will disagree with me

Crosstown Traffic

I read an interesting debate recently about country attitudes to cars and their cities.  The main comparison was between European cities and the USA but I will throw my experience of being a seasoned Delhi rally driver into the mix.

It seems that while Europe is becoming increasingly hostile to cars, theUSA is researching better ways to help drivers have a less stressful experience

Loving Loch Lomond

This year has been about exploring the British Isles for me. Earlier this year we did the beaches of Devon and then went camping on the Yorkshire Moors and the weekend just gone, we ventured north to Loch Lomond in Scotland.