From the Khyber Pass

Dinner at the Khyber Pass restaurant was a real delight. We had fragrant biryani chicken, with succulent lamb madras and spicy prawn curry. This was followed by coffee and gelato at the Oddono’s Gelati Italini (“Life’s too short to eat bad ice cream”) a short walk across the road. Outside, there was a light drizzle. Inside, a warm atmosphere prevailed.

I was back in South Kensington again. The late afternoon was spent at the Victoria and Albert Museum, known colloquially as the V&A, where objets d’art from across the world are presented. I had never been there before, and was simply bowled over by the sheer magnitude of the Raphael cartoons and the monumental edifices in the two Cast Courts.

Yet it’s neither the food nor the art that will remain with me. Rather, it’s the conversation we had through the cool evening hours that I shall recall. We talked, and we talked, and we talked. It’s been great meeting new people in London and one day, surely, I shall return home enriched, enlivened by these wonderful new friendships.