The end of vacations :(

I seriously dont know what's worse - not going on vacation, or coming back from one to tackle a work desk that inevitable piled to tottering heights :(

Right now I am trying to prolong the escapist feeling just a bit more by immersing every non-working minute in my latest Bill Bryson find - I'm a Stranger Here Myself. One of the great pleasures of travelling to foreign shores is the chance of discovering an absolutely brand new book by a favourite author that's not yet been heard of in India. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is one book by Bryson that I still haven't read....any chance that there are any new Dan Browns' or Sophie Kinsellas' out there as well????

Another discovery that's always heartwarming - seeing a fully India-grown brand in positions of prominence abroad. Did you know that the very first shop that you encounter at the Concours of Petronas in Kuala Lumpur is our very own Himalaya skincare?? And that the brand is consistently placed at top positions by readers and editors alike for various beauty awards??

PS: While we are on the subject, do you know that the famed Petronas towers themselves are owned by an Indian??

One more stunning revelation - there is actually one city in this whole wide world where you can go for a full 48 hours without seeing a single image of Aishwarya Rai?? Disbelievers may please visit Genting, an hour out of Kuala Lumpur!! Its not that I have anything against Aish, but just that wherever I go - from New York to Dubai - she is sure to be gazing out of a hoarding or shop window within an hour of my arrival, so her absence was almost surreal. In fact, I made a little bet with myself that I would see her within 4 hours of arrival in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and London. The results - within 15 minutes at Kuala Lumpur, 8 minutes in Singapore and at the airport itself in London :)