Stained glass windows and thunderstorms.

Magic. Honestly, I love India, I never thought I could fall in love with a country so quickly. Its has a subtle surreptitious nature, secret corners and peeling paint. Coupled with pious yet strangely lenient religious ideals, sun faded walls with gold gilded traditional wall paintings sided with deep ochre flags flying on the rooftops.

Yesterday we wandered to the city palace, it’s construction dating back to 1553. We spent a few hours meandering lazily through its vast winding corridors. Gazing at huge marble carved basins and mirrored rooms, armour statues of deities and royal attire.

We sat in the courtyard and admired the huge camponotus radiatus immense indian ants twirling up and down the branches of a Banyan tree.

After a short snooze at the hotel, we woke feeling worse for wear. At first we passed it off as tiredness but it would soon become apparent it was the start of something a little more serious. While my Mum stayed in the hostel room, Rob and I boarded the rooftop to watch an absolutely tornadic thunderstorm that raged across the mountain range, atmospheric instability boomed thunder and shook your guts like the bass from a subwoofer. White light highlighted the amassed black cumulonimbus clouds. Huge rain droplets hammered the tin rooftop like a drum as we watched in awe. It was so monstrously awesome, the monsoon here is just incredible and I am so glad we have had the opportunity to witness this spectrum of weather in India.

During the night, Rob and my Mum fell really ill with the inevitable bout of Indian quease. Thus the following day was spent with me as nurse as they battled nausea and poorly tums. In between fetching water, bananas and mountain dew. I wandered the winding streets and crossed the footbridge onto the other side of Lake Pichola, bought myself a quintessential jangling anklet and had a breakfast of a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, I spent the rest of the day hooping on the rooftop, having Henna done by Raju’s wife and practising yoga as well as my handstands.