With a four picture diary the idea is to keep things simple and focused by capturing just four photos that define the day, each answering a specific prompt:

Where is it happening?

What are we doing?

Who is involved?

and Why? 

Where is it happening?

Chennai – on route to Puducherry.

I always try and avoid corporate brand hotels in favour of more sustainable and locally run options. And whenever I ignore this rule I almost always regret it.

And so it was with two ‘luxury hotel chains’ which, although antiseptically beautiful, both resembled a Deloitte or KPMG office.

Which is ironic as most of the the guests appeared to be consultants working for Deloitte or KPMG.

India’s real worth in digital consulting is reflected in its exports. Most of the world’s Fortune 500 companies use Indian IT firms (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL) for their global projects.

NASSCOM projects India’s total IT industry revenue to hit $300–$350 billion in FY2026.

I was wondering , as I watched consultants order (presumably on expenses) drinks at prices three times the basic weekly wage, how much of this was getting billed to the UK public sector?

What are we doing?

I can’t really write much about Chennai as, on both occasions, we stayed in corporate type hotels convenient for onward travel.

What I do know is this is the first time I’ve seen a relationship counselling service at an airport. This might sound a mad idea at first but this could catch on.

Travel is stressful enough but Indian airports add another level of friction to the dreaded airport security protocol by separating men and women. When you are finally reunited arguments then ensue about who had the passports , boarding passes etc.

To make it worse we nearly missed our flight as I was at the wrong gate. We never did get the relationship counselling, but we didn’t talk to each other for about 1200km.

Who is involved?

Finally talking again, Karen I ventured out to a bar as we refused to pay the inflated Deloitte hotel prices. We visited what was described at an “English themed pub”. Unfortunately the theme seemed to be “1970s working men’s pub”. We left and found a more modern, 1980s style hotel bar.

Why?

Back at the hotel I was amused to see what all those billions of digital transformation dollars gets you. We can’t solve homelessness, but we can get you in-room dining for your pets. I thought the 450 rupees for a chicken curry was relatively cheap for a hotel until I realised it was for dogs.

What a world!

Four more soon. If you want even more follow me on instagram

Namaste!