"One Way Ticket to India"

Wed, Aug 27th 2025 at 12:40 pm - 2:00 pm

Ian Smith

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The guest speaker was Ian Smith from Cupar Rotary Club with a talk entitled 'One Way Ticket to India’. Ian told how a friend had raved about India so, as his 60th birthday celebration, Ian decided to try it, taking a one-way ticket since he didn’t know how long he would stay or how far he would travel…….So began his adventures between January and March of this year, visiting 8 states, 14 cities, travelling on 11 motor bikes, 4 trains, a sleeper bus and a house boat, taxis and numerous tuk-tuks. Among the fascinating places Ian described were Jodphur (the Blue City), Jaipur (the Pink City), Gwalior, Lucknow, Varanasi (where the world’s largest human gathering of some 350 million people was held. Then it was on to Patna, Assam, Darjeeling, Chenai and Kerala. He even travelled as far as the border of Nepal and

everywhere he met lovely, wonderful, friendly, happy people who often asked the same questions: where are you from? where are you staying? -the answer was always ‘at the hostel’ to show he was not a big spender!- and how long are you staying? In Patna he visited the local Rotary Club who were so welcoming, and he sang ‘Loch Lomond’ for them! He saw mosques, temples, forts, and, at the Guwahati Heights Hill Station, elephants and a rhino. This fascinating talk was greatly enjoyed by the members of the Club.