News from Jupiter
From My Notebooks In 1977: Leaving Afghanistan
August 3, 2025
It is noticeable that I was much more concerned with the condition of the bike, now, than by what was going on around me. A chronic problem with the Tiger 100 was the tendency of the rocker caps or pushrod covers– often called “hot cross buns” because of the grooves on top – to come unscrewed and loose oil. Loctite was supposed to be the […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Afghanistan
July 27, 2025
As seen from Europe, in those days (maybe still today) Afghanistan seemed a very distant country, but for me then in Kabul, France seemed just around the corner. Having to cross Iran and Turkey and the Balkans to get there seemed to offer no problem at all – how different my attitude from when I started in North Africa. The exigencies of travel didn’t bother […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Pakistan and the Khyber Pass
July 20, 2025
Still with the brothers at Jhellum Bridge. May 8th The breakfast ceremony is a continuation of yesterday. Parathas, French toast. Hamid ever watchful, suggests that paratha leaves a burning sensation in the stomach. Too much food? I take two family portraits. The hookah is out of place – the wrong kind for Pathans. A Punjabi policeman insinuates himself with it. My mistake. Hamid is […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Leaving India
July 13, 2025
At last all the parts are together. I’ve said goodbye to Carol, expecting to be with her again in Europe, and I’m ready to leave Delhi for the border. From Delhi, May 5th Sprocket, chain and tyres on. Try to flog old parts, in vain. In State Bank involved in dubious transaction with Frenchman, who wants to double his cheques by losing them. I […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Losing My Composure In Delhi
July 6, 2025
The election is over. Indira Ghandi has gone. The Emergency and its regulations are over and profiteering is back in fashion. Meanwhile I’m in Delhi, waiting for news from London, waiting for parts (including a new sprocket without which I can’t hope to get home). Anyone who has travelled a longtime through dodgy parts of the world will know the demands made on patience. Usually […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: The Road to Delhi
June 29, 2025
After witnessing that horrific tragedy of the girls under the cartwheels, I go back to my hotel. April 10th, Agra At Shiraz Hotel the chickens hang by their necks like small people under a neon tube over a little stage decorated with pink tinsel. Fish, chops, sausages, all smeared in the same pinkish paste, laid out below chickens. Sikhs with rosebud mouths mix beer […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: To Agra and the Taj Mahal
June 22, 2025
I’ve left the East Coast and started my journey back to Delhi. It’s April and already very hot. At first I found it was only bearable to ride some parts by night, a risky enterprise. April, Jabalpur There was a sprinkling of rain last night. Now, after Seoni, a full scale thunderstorm at dusk. And with the dirt shoulders of road wet more […]
Les Voyages de Jupiter
(Scroll down for the English translation) Enfin, Les Voyages de Jupiter est de nouveau disponible en Francais, et vous pouvez l’acheter ici, sur mon site web. Cette traduction a été publiée pour la première fois par Albin Michel en 1980, avec un grand succès, en grande partie grâce à l’invitation de Bernard Pivot à son émission télévisée emblématique Apostrophe. Le soir suivant mon passage à […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Calcutta and Konarak
June 14, 2025
Once in Calcutta I made my way to the Salvation Army Hostel, known as the Sally-Ann, by recommendation, where I made friends with Jacqueline LePrince from Paris and Eric Hansen, from San Francisco who had been helping at Mother Theresa’s home. [Eric wanted to take spices home, so we went to a spice firm and said we were thinking of importing spices. We were […]
From My Notebooks In 1977: Back to Bodhgaya via Benares
June 8, 2025
My impromptu train ride to Delhi from Gaya to listen to Amjad Alikhan play his sarod in concert was frustrated when the concert was cancelled. Trying to make something of all the effort I decided to first take the train to Benares, before returning to Bodghaya. Benares, also called Varanasi, is the holiest of Indian cities on the Ganges. Monday 14th (The Ides of […]