It will probably come as no surprise that my main concern about my trip to India is, what to read on the journey. (There was other stuff to think about–visas and shots and so on, but the books were my major preoccupation.) I have a 6 hour flight from New York to London, followed by a 8 hour flight from London to New Delhi, followed by a 5 hour train trip to Halwadi. 
I will have a notebook with me, of course, and I plan to take lots of notes and I’m also hoping to work on some important plot points for the book I’m working on now. But. I need to read something. When I flew to London last year, I read The Nightingale, which, as far as I am concerned, was the perfect airplane journey book. I picked it up, blinked, and was in London. I read an amazing book about India titled Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts, which would have been a perfect book, except that I’ve already read it. The list of Indian writers is obviously long, and I’ve read many of them. I loved Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, and I’ve been wanting to read the sequel. Arundhati Roy has a new book out that looks most intriguing. Then, of course, there are some books that might be useful for my own work, such as one by Harold Schacter about a female serial poisoner. This is a great temptation, but I am hesitant about showing up at an orphanage with a book about poisoning. Then, one of my fellow Gotham teachers suggested a book that sounds perfect. It’s a murder mystery set in New Delhi, by Tarquin Hall, titled: The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator. It has wonderful reviews and it’s also supposed to give great background information on life in New Delhi. So perhaps, when I step off the plane, I will be a little prepared. Thank you, Shahnaz! Problem solved.
