In Place?

Thinking this morning about location - the broader sense of it as well as the specific place where my feet touch the ground. I adore the Australian landscape. Not just the way it looks, but the fresh, sharp smell of eucalyptus, the clack of branches in a storm, the unexpected croak of a black cockatoo as it cleaves the sky.

There is a great quote from Tim Winton's Cloudstreet, where he writes about the sense of belonging (or not) that a place engenders:

'When I was a girl I had this strong feeling that I didn't belong anywhere,... It was in my head, what I thought and dreamt, what I believed..., that's where I belonged, that was my country.'


This connection between imagination, self-identity and place is powerful. Often I write where I can see the trees (like this morning). They operate as a muse, leaving my mind free. Perhaps my story runs smooth or ragged depending on the intricacies of their bark or the shape of the branches. A bird, its remarkably fragile legs holding onto a branch, becomes a metaphor for how we all cling to the world. Or, like the cockatoo, launch ourselves into the sky, unafraid of the turbulence this might bring.

As I work my way through the alternate need to cling to the familiar or seek out a new location, India is only a place in the landscape of my imagination. I wonder what stories it holds?

On Women and Cricket

Culture today (of a kind) with women's international cricket between India and Australia at Manuka Oval. It was a chance to soak up some sun watching these capable and athletic women play for their countries as I wondered about how cricket caught on in India.

Manuka Oval 2 February 2016

According to ESPN's Cricinfo, the game was introduced by British sailors as early as 1721. The first club, restricted to European men, was the Calcutta Cricket Club, established in 1792. It was in Mumbai in 1797 that Indian men first took to the field, and in 1848 the Parsees formed the Orient Club, beating the Europeans for the first time in 1877. The Women's Cricket Association of India was formed around 100 years later in 1973.  

2nd Test in 1935 in Sydney

The first time a (male) Indian national team travelled to Australia was in 1947-48 when they played a five match series. Given this, it might surprise you to know that the Australian women's team, the Southern Stars, played their first test match (against England) in Sydney in 1934.

On this beautiful afternoon in Canberra, as the crowd claps for a four from Elise Perry and the bowler walks back to her starting mark, I am delighted that cricket offers this cross-cultural opportunity.

India Reaches Out

It's a long way from Mullumbimby to Mumbai - most of a lifetime and more than 10 000 km, give or take a few detours.

As I contemplate the world's largest democracy I wonder how I've missed out on the Indian experience for so long. It's not just that my waking hours are full of travel preparations (although they are). It's more that my dreams are filled with India in busy, blaring, Bollywood technicolour.

I wake with an urgency that has me recording ideas in a notebook at 2am.

This blog is the story of how a story has begun.

Already India reaches out.

Join me as I grab hold of her fingers and explore the highs and hangnails of travel, inspiration and writing.