Working from home is a hard discipline: there are so many worthy distractions all around, jobs that need doing, that don't individually take so much time that it's unreasonable to consider leaving the computer to do them, but taken together eat up an entire morning. Or afternoon. Or both, even. Sigh.
And then there's the focus required to stick with something that doesn't have a deadline. Tch. So it was a triumph today to finish a story about Jaipur, even if I started out by writing about Washington. I'm not quite sure how that happened. But anyway, it was good to look back at the photos and remember the mad chaos of India, the colour, the press of people, the animals - everywhere, animals: cows, chickens, goats, dogs, monkeys, camels, horses, elephants - and the faded incredible opulence of the buildings. So much gold and silver, delicate hand-painted murals, fabrics embroidered in gold thread and decorated with thousands of tiny seed-pearls, each one drilled by hand. It's a tired cliche, of course, but the contrasts there are phenomenal.
A friend of mine has just gone to India for her umpteenth trip, salwar kameez at the ready, eager for the photo opportunities as in no other country. I've been twice now, both times to the same cities. There's so much contrast just within one city - how much different would it be to go to another area altogether?*
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