News from Jupiter
From My Notebooks In 1976: Back Down India’s West Coast
January 26, 2025
Leaving Bangalore behind I ride back down to the west coast. To Mangalore at 10am. Road good and bad, but much traffic. Often 40 – 45 mph. But last section bad, and overall average 25 mph. In M’lore at 5.45. To see Mr. Srikant. Stiffening steering head worrying. Thursday, November 4th Regreased steering head with new balls. Noticed that front brakes might need relining. […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: Coffee in Chikmagalur
January 18, 2025
[It’s November 1976 and I’m working my way slowly up the west coast of India. In Bangalore, Gopinath invited me to accompany him on a visit to a friend of his with a coffee plantation in Chikmagalur, which was also Indira Ghandi’s constituency. I only got to know the friend as Cyril.] He’s a passionate man, and a very striking figure as he appeared on […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: The Emergency In Bangalore
January 11, 2025
Sunday, October 24th, 1976 To Mysore. Help the Germans down the hill, holding their bike with my brakes and engine. [I wish I could remember how we did this.] Then in wildlife reserve my first wild elephant wanders across the road. In Mysore, at govt. guest house, meet three Indians and wives. We go to Brindavan Gardens, under the dam, 10 miles out. Very impressive, […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: Cabbages and Mushrooms in Ooty
January 5, 2025
I’m back in India, and from Madurai I rode out of the state of Tamil Nadu into Kerala, and across the Cardamom Hills through Kodaicanal to the West coast at Cochin. Colombian country. Neat agriculture. High coconuts, bananas. Last stretch to Cochin in dark, on wrong road. Wet. Potholes. Red buses. Corporation guest house. 7 rupees. Sea Face Hotel. Volga Rest. 5-rupee note. […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: Shaky in Ceylon
December 22, 2024
I’ve been riding round Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and I’m back at Mannar waiting for the ferry to Rameswaram, India, but the weather’s against me and I’m still feeling feverish. 14th October Rain is really punching down in the night. The garden has become a lake. The varnish on all the stairs is sticky. Pools of water on the floor. Write to Tony and Mum […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: Sweating In Ceylon
December 14, 2024
I’m in Ceylon, having visited one of the best known sites, Sigirya, a fortress created out of a phenomenal rock formation. The view from the top of the fortress was extraordinary. There were carvings, but little that my uneducated mind could explain. The next day I left the Rest House (and the German sisters). October 11th – To Puttalam On shore of a lagoon. […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: A Fortress In Ceylon
December 7, 2024
May I remind you that I am reproducing here, word for word, the notes I took on my so-called Jupiter Journey, frequently disjointed, sometimes almost incomprehensible, even to me. At this point I am still in Ceylon [Sri Lanka today] at Trincomalee, on my way to Sigirya, an ancient fortress. October 7th Back seems bit better. Walk to Fort Frederick – lots of big, […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: India and Ceylon
November 30, 2024
We have a holiday season ahead of us and I’d like to contribute to the fun. I still have stack of my Camera book, and I’d like to see them go. I have no problem saying it’s a beautiful book and I’m sure you all know someone who’d like to have it, so for the next two weeks I’ll knock $20 off the price. It […]
Photos from 50 years ago in Sudan and Ethiopia
November 24, 2024
Good day, everyone. I’ve been working at my photo albums, trying to rationalize them. It’s a lot more work than I bargained for, and I haven’t had time to properly prepare for this weekend. So I’m offering you instead some pictures to drool over. I hope you find them as evocative as I do. They are from my journey, almost exactly 50 years ago, in […]
From My Notebooks In 1976: Pondicherry and Auroville
November 15, 2024
It’s the end of September 1976 and I’m in Pondicherry on the East coast of India, but for some reason I wrote nothing about that week. I came to Pondicherry principally to visit Auroville. I can’t remember now how I heard about Auroville, but it was already well-known to anyone taking an interest in Indian philosophy or culture. It is situated in the part of […]