My lovely family and friends

I have just returned from Cyprus - my little island in the mediterranean which is where I come from. It is ridiculously small in the scheme of things, less than a million in population and struggling to find a just solution to the Turkish Invasion of 1974 which has deprived it of some 30 % of its beautiful land but against all odds Cyprus and Cypriots continue to flourish and enjoy the good life.Restaurants are overflowing, road rage is not uncommon as people fight for a parking space for that last minute shopping expedition. Women, mercifully not all of us, but an astonishingly large number, are decked in Louis Vuitton and Gucci and Fiorucci and the fast cars are a pedestrians nightmare.

For all of its issues, and there are many, I love the place to bits and even more family and friends who I leave behind every time I depart. They are so precious to me and for all their quirks and vanities, idiosynchrasies and peculiarities I could not have chosen better even if I could.

The family is always there for me, hopefully at a distance I for them too, and they are talented, multi- faceted  lovely people.

The friends I grew up with all those years in school are my equivalent of Desperate Housewives. A wonderful collection of bright and articulate women with professional backgrounds and each time we pick up where we left off the last time we met. They are all special in their own way.The friends keep up with my life in India on the blog and said they needed to be part of it to find fame if not fortune.  So here they are in full glory.