CHARLOTTE TOTTENHAM

This week I met up with Dharamveer, a charming and intelligent guy who is one of seven co-founders of Zostel, India’s first hostel chain. He praised his co-founders and chatted about the fact that together they make the perfect team. India is currently a country full to the brim with budding entrepreneurs, but as Dharamveer said to me, ‘everybody can have an idea; it’s the execution that matters’. Zostel really have got this execution element so right. Having begun their re

Explorer’s Nest in Jaipur, Rajasthan, is a quaint, homely and charming little homestay tucked away in a quiet colony in the centre of town. The owners are Arvind Grover, a retired Lieutenant Colonel and his wife, Shoma, a thoughtful and interested woman who is a professor of Botany. The little guesthouse is remarkably cheap but certainly has everything that I need; hot water, speedy wifi and a lovely roof terrace on which you can sit and watch the world go by. Each room is

William Dalrymple is a busy man. Alongside others, he masterminded and now directs the Jaipur Literature Festival, which is held annually in the Pink City and attracts such literary Gods and Godesses as V. S. Naipaul and next year, Margaret Atwood! I first discovered his writing and work when I moved to Delhi some years ago, when my mother gave me his second book, City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi. As an homage to both moving back to Delhi and returning to the Lit Fest, I have