New Book: Heads, Hats and Tall Tales, Travels in India, Nepal and Egypt: 3 Books in 1

On Amazon 

 Memoirs of my travels in India 1972, India, Nepal and Kashmir in 1981 and 1985, and Egypt in 1989, 1990 and 2010, along with a murder mystery and poems - includes the nitty-gritty from my previous books "All About My Hat The Hippy Trail 1972", "Back to the East, India, Nepal and Kashmir", and "Myhat in Egypt Through the Eyes of a God" - all in one book.

It's a very different world today.

Alun Buffry was born in Wales in 1950 and studied Chemistry at UEA. In 1972, he travelled overland to India, with little money or support, becoming ill in India and spending time in hospitals in Delhi, Kabul and Tehran. After returning to the UK later that year, he became a follower of Prem Rawat, then also known as Guru Maharaji, whom he still follows today. In 1991 he spent time in HMP for cannabis offences. After his release he started writing his books which contain personal accounts of his life experiences and travels, as well as poetry and science fiction..

In 1999 he co-founded the <a href="http://www.ccguide.org/lca/lca.php"Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA)</a> with Jack Girling, He stood for Parliament in 2001and local council elections in Norwich As well as many published letters, interviews and speeches, he spoke in a debate on cannabis legalisation at the Oxford Union and testified before A Select Committee in Parliament.

His other books are
"From Dot to Cleopatra", a concise history of Ancient Egypt, "The Effie Enigma, The Motherless Mothers" (Sci-fi), "Out of Joint, 20 Years of Campaigning for Cannabis 1991 - 2010", "My Piece of Peace£, "Time for Cannabis, The Prison Years", Inside my Hat and other Heads" (poetry with others), "Words of Weed and Wisdom" (poetry with others), "An Alliance-of Eyes" (poetry with others), "Damage and Humanity in Custody" with William D Hutchinson, "If Only Suomi" time-travelling romance", "Legalise and Utilise Commemorative Edition", "Cannabis: Challenging the Criminal Justice System" with Don Barnard.

<a href="http:/www.buffry.org.uk/abefreepublishing.html">SEE HERE</a>

30th March 1985: Camel Riding Back to Jaiselmer

 Taken from Back to the East, India, Nepal, Kashmir  

March 30th 1985

That morning we started out at 7.30; it was already hot. We stopped at a deserted desert village called Culdrah which had quite a large temple. There were few images here, just some mutilated statues and a few poor ones of monkeys. Salima said, or rather agreed to what I had said, that people left due to lack of water. But later a Canadian guy we met on his own Safari trek said it was because there had been a lot of conflict driven my Moslem invaders from Pakistan against the Hindus about eleven years earlier (1974) .

By 10.30, it was so hot that I was falling asleep on the camel.

We spotted another couple of camels coming towards us and they waved us closer. One had a Japanese girl on top, red faced looking exhausted. Her camel-driver guide said she would not drink the water. I gave her some purifying tablets and told he she must drink – it was even sometimes better to drink dirty water than not to drink at all, but the water from the well was OK, which was why they call it well water. She left happier. Now I thought, maybe I saved her life.

 

Almost suddenly we were on our way back to Jaiselmer. We stopped at a small village called Amar Sagar where a Jain Temple was being restored.

Suddenly we spotted Jaiselmer in the distance.

JAISELMER

(Rajasthan, 1985)

by

Alun Buffry

Jaiselmer, oh Jaiselmer

Not a lot of hassle here.

Just cows walking in the streets,

Adding smells to earthly heat,

Makes us want to drink more chai,

But "No milk!" the people cry.

All those cows yet still no milk,

All those shops that just sell silk,

Desert life's just not the same,

Camels struggling, what a shame,

To let us climb upon their backs

And if they moan they know the crack.

Driver up there perched on top

Passing songs until we stop

At water hole or shady tree

To eat a precious chapati

Made by the men, full of pride,

Over fires with veggies fried,

In spices which do not have names,

But we don't care 'cos we have pains,

In legs and arms and even feet

From riding camels in this heat.

Three days the desert journeyed on,

We listened to the Rajputs' songs,

Passing temples, villages

Passed to us through ages.

Suddenly, the words we hear:

"See over there, sweet Salmeterol!"

 

 

Back in the Hotel Fort View. All in all it was sometimes a bit too hot but it was an incredible experience. Lesley said that her coccyx was struggling and she still says she never recovered (now in 2021). She was also upset because she’d lost a bead from her hair.

The hotel manager asked me to write a comment in his guest book, which I did. I read through some of the other comments which were all positive. One read: “The best thing about riding the camels is that one could fart loudly and blame it on the camels.”

Back to the East, India, Nepal, Kashmir 1981 and 1985

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916310796