Nepal is also super friendly - cross the border and you breathe a sigh of relief as the hassle stops. Recrossing back into India I nearly got into a fight with some asshole who was pretending to be the bus conductor selling tickets. Everyone else on the bus said nothing, even though he was clearly trying to scam me.

The other guy said that I don’t love Claire because I am having fun around the world while she is missing me back in Australia.

Clearly this bloke is being entirely benevolent. What he really wants is for you to come back to Australia and to look after Clair and to make sure Clair never suffers a negative emotion.

In terms of your changed emotions I think c8to is probably right. Plus you probably learnt that crying wasn’t going to cause somebody else to fix things for you. Something you probably knew intellectually but less so emotionally.

Now we’re all waiting with baited breath for a surprise comment by Clair, because secretly we all still like a little drama.

I like the way you describe a spesific situation.You can,successfully, transmit the feeling to the reader.

There were some nice places to hide in the north — especially Amritsar in Punjab province (the Sikh area). And I must say that after I adjusted to the “rules of India” I did end up having a good time.

On the other hand, I was in the South, where you COULD find places to escape the general corruption, dishonesty, and annoyances. Many people who had travelled in the North told me that it was much, MUCH worse up there. So I had no interest in going any further than Bombay.

By the way - are you likely to be in my neck of the woods again soon?

Keep it. All real men your age have got one now