I’m usually in India a few times a year, up to six months a year. That’s been my routine for the last 17 years. This has been the first year it’s not the case. Given that @sabcatsilver only starting visiting with me in the last 3, we keep planning our itinerary for our next trip!

Every trip begins with Bombay. That is the center of my universe in South Asia. All my friends are there. My fave places. My work. (I’m involved in some education work in Ghatkopar & Mulund). I imagine our next trip will start there, again.

Depending on the season, and what we are excited by, we’d pick a theme. Once we did a ‘eat all the pomfret fry’ trip down the Konkan coast. From Bombay, we went to Ratnagiri. Then Mangalore. From Sadiccha to Highway Gomantak and Giri Manja (Mangalore), we ate.. dozens of fish.

I’m feeling like I’d really like to go to Coorg and Wayanad next. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around the Western Ghats. There is nothing like it in the monsoon.

I can’t wait to be there during mango season again. And stuff my face with amazing mangoes. My fave is banganapalli. And chaunsa.

I miss the Himalayas. Depending on which end of the country we plan to be in, I’d love to show her Kalimpong or Uttarakhand.

I’ve spent most of my time in the south of India. When I started traveling there, I usually flew low cost airlines from Singapore, KL or Bangkok. $100 got you to Trichy, Chennai; sometimes Kolkata (on Druk Air, via Bhutan).

I would love to show her the small cities of Tamil Nadu that I love so much. Madurai. Erode. Coimbatore. And my god, I will cry tears of happiness when I finally make it to Puthur Mess again (outside Coimbatore).

Sorry. Full name Puthur Jayaram Mess. Probably the best meal of my life (and I have been to El Bulli!)

Look at it. Just look at it. It’s my absolute favorite Indian food. Nonveg hearty food from the interiors of Tamil country.

http://vaangasappidalam.blogspot.com/2013/03/puthur-jayaraman-mess.html

(Also not outside Coimbatore. Outside Chidambaram. It’s been a while.)

Being spice freaks, we want to spend time criss-crossing Andhra Pradash and Telegana. Hyderabad for endless biryani. I desperately want to try Guntur chicken in Guntur. Araku Valley also seems fun; I’ve never been to the eastern ghats. I think.

Arunachal Pradesh makes me feel like I need a whole month to explore. I want to go to Mizoram as well. But I wouldn’t know where to start! I’ve only been as far as Meghalaya

Whenever in NE India, Kolkata is usually the launchpad and return point. Nizam or Kusum kathi rolls. Chicken cutlets. Indian coffee house. And the nostalgia of my first Indian city ever. (I was in Kolkata for a month on my first visit.)

Deliberately not mentioning big cities. It’s a given that we will definitely bounce through a few of them. Madras and Bangalore for sure. Delhi, maybe sometimes.

Need to go bike packing around eastern India with @kp1200, starting from Ranchi. We’ve planned this trip forever. And I’ve just left him to go on his own :)

Clearly my list is food-motivated. I’m not particularly interested in sights or tourist attractions :/

Maybe at some point we will go see the Taj Mahal. Twice, after both my visits to the Taj, I’ve broken up with the person I went there with. Lol. Also Agra is not my kind of place. At all. But everyone should see the Taj at least once. Hopefully not in the summer.

Kerala for sure. I just groan thinking of the number of flight transfers there from here. From Singapore / Malaysia, it was a quick hop to Kerala cities. I will not be used to a 40+ hour journey there.

Rajasthan, always a treat. I also need to get to Nepal, where I have been promising a friend I’d visit Manang for.. the last 17 years. Oops. Maybe some kind of trek will finally impel me to go. (Love Nepal, it was hard to get to on a budget back in the day).

So many places to go!! I don’t know when we will get back there again. But I am ready any time the world is ready again.