Megha Kehar

Some would say she’s laidback, chilled out or even lazy. How dare they!? When she sets her mind to something Megha is anything but a lay about. She’s focused, determined and won’t stop until she succeeds. Added to that she can even crack the odd joke, whilst enjoying a ‘quiet’ drink at one of the many watering holes in Delhi. Her sense of humour has developed since we first met each other around 18 months ago, and she is well on her way to understanding the sarcastic British sense of humour. Our next project is to concentrate on her understanding of irony. She is currently in a class of 20 students, 19 of them Americans.

Although the opportunities are rare in this part of the world, she can always be found soaking up the atmosphere at any live music events taking place in the area. The pastimes she enjoy include playing the guitar, writing various informative articles, taking the piss out of me, gora bashing and amusing herself by watching Sardars.

Her biggest passion in life, aside from men and words, is music. She loves anything indie and alternative and generally hates pop and RnB. Unless she’s had one too many sherbets, in which case she doesn’t mind strutting her stuff on the dance floor to pretty much anything with a beat.

Her role models include Stewie from Family Guy, Apache Indian and the Mahatma. Her main aim in life is to be a member of the audience at an international spelling bee. And when she finally grows up she wants to be a contestant on Laughter Challenge. She might not succeed at cracking any decent jokes, but I’m sure her ‘dirty’ joke, impressions of people from different continents and the way she flutters her eyelids would be enough to ensure she progresses to at least the second round.

In all seriousness though, she is an incredible woman and a brilliant writer. So, who better for me to write a blog with than Megha. She’s my best friend and has been a great source of inspiration for me over the last 18 months.

Andy Dodd

This shrewd son of England is the quintessential gullible gora* for us enterprising Indians. For starters he is white , blond, has kaleidoscopic green eyes and is painfully punctual (every time). Over the last two years of his stay in India he has perfected his defence mechanism and can now even use the odd Hindi swear word against the habitually furious Indian motorists, especially the ones who drive the three-wheeled feral monster called the Auto Rickshawsaurus.

If you happen to be in this part of the world there is a good chance that you’ll be able to find him expounding on the theory of the missing shoe*, deriding the commonly available variety of tea, playing football with the locals and ridiculing Indian authority. He and I can sometimes be found guzzling beer and vodka respectively in one of the many bars in the middle of the city.

Andy definitely enjoys a good session of debate but sadly even with all his sarcasm and sense of irony he loses miserably. He is an excellent pianist. I absolutely love his sense of humour – his accent helps. And even though I call him Brit Git he is no doubt the most caring and understanding person I have met so far. And for the same reason he is, as Gabriel Garcia Marquez would put it, my soul friend!

His Indian name is Anand Daddoo by the way.

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*gora: any non-resident white person. The word used to have a negative connotation during the days of the Raj but has recently taken on a funny meaning.

*Missing Shoe Theory (MST): It is another one of Mr Dodd’s extremely sharp observations that during the Indian rainy season, when the roads are overflowing with whatever our drainage system manages to bring to the surface, one is likely to spot only one, lone shoe floating in the water and never the complete pair. As of date the case remains unresolved.