If you're a little confused about where the previous blog's been hiding for the last week, I was meant to come back to it and very quickly read it through before posting it. Alas, as things tend to, I ran out of time and forgot and only got round to doing it now.

So here really is an up to date blog. I have sticky patches of mango juice on my arms.

Yesterday we went to a rather nice house to watch the footie. Tonight I was at a meeting to discuss writing for a website for an independent 'conceptual' film festival, which could be good fun, though I'll be home by the time the festival itself takes place in October. I'm going to right up the aims and objectives of the festival, so if anyone can think of anything beyond "films are good, so make some", please let me know on all the usual means.

And I might be off to Punjab soon to meet another extremely inspiring person, by the name of Krishan Kumar, singlehandedly trying to rid India of corruption. I've come to the conclusion that if I don't feel inspired to spend my life fighting injustice after the people I've met in the last 2 months, then I probably never will and I might as well become an arms dealer, cause at least the money's good and you get to travel alot.

And tonight I might be off to the birthday party of someone I've never met, but I could do with actually getting some sleep (3 and a half hours last night - a new record!) and if the rest of the flat goes to the party and leaves it nice and quiet that might be what I'll do.

As for summer traveling plans, besides doing the world's most amazing road and Raja's wedding (see previous blog) I'm hoping to make the AIESEC conference in Lahore at the end of July. Visas permitting of course, did I hear India and Pakistan don't get on so well...? Anyway, if anyone's in the area let me know.

I've started using a different internet cafe after I rather dramatically stormed out of the one next to my flat after an argument over Rs5 (6.2pence according to www.xe.com). Seriously though, it wasn't the money - it was the princiuple of the thing. So I haven't gone back there in 2 weeks. I walk past every day to get to the bus stop and glower at them from a distance. That will show 'em.

So there we go, an actual up to the minute, this is what's going on in my head blog, right down to the mango juice. Take care, and I'll let you know when I've saved the world.

Awright folks, here we go with a whistlestop tour through the last month off the top of my head and with The Guardian's best England vs West Indies moments from Youtube going on in another window.

In 3 words: where did the time go? God I can't believe its been a month since I dragged myself out of my 'God I can't believe its been a month since I got here' daze to write my last blog. I must be due another daze soon. If I am I've stayed that period of inactivity by jumping on a train and going to Pune (that's Poone for all you 'you know what, the Boers had it coming' imperialists out there). I joined Madhu at the National Conference for the Right to Information (RTI) Crusaders. By joined, I use the term loosely, as while she flew (2 hrs), your favourite tight-arsed traveller took the 26 hr night train instead. And by joined I mean made occasional acquaintance as we certainly didn't waste time out of the office by sharing it with each other.

Which suited me absolutely fine, as it gave me license to tell lots of people I will never see again that yes, I am a journalist. I can almost say it with a straight face. And what people I met. Top of the illustrious pile has got to be Raja, a dentist turned RTI campaigner from the bastion of human rights, Kashmir. In a word, legend. He spent 16 days in jail without charge, most of it upside down without a receptacle for his waste, just for getting up the nose of the Kashmiri authorities. An extremely impassioned but wonderfully sweet man who insisted I spoke to his fiancee on the phone when he rang for their daily chat. Mine and Raja's basic conversation went something like:

T: "You're getting married! That's brilliant! How long have you known each other?"

R: "Mr Tom, not long. It's an arranged marriage."

T: "Oh." Silence.

R: "But now its a love marriage."

T: "Yay!"

R: "Before this I was in a relationship where I was in love."

T: "Oh."

R: "But now I'm in love again!"

T: "Yay!"

and now I'm invited to Kashmir for their wedding in August, so that will be cool if I can make it. When he told me he was a social dentist I replied, "Getting to the root of the problem." Ha ha! He liked it too, so I haven't ruled myself out as being his chief speechwriter when he joins the Lok Sabha (Indian parliament).

For those not up on their Indian troop deployment statistics, Kashmir has 17 civilians for every 1 troop, and at 600,000 troops has nigh-on FOUR TIMES as many troops as Iraq. But my conference roommate Roy could beat that. Roy is from Manipur, a charming state absorbed into India by force when Nehru was trying to out-British the British at the imperial expansion thing. For a population of 2.3 million, there are only NINE civilians for every one member of the military. In both these states they still practice collective punishment, so if an army squad is ambushed by insurgents and no group claims responisbility, the entire civilian population of the closest village gets imprisoned/tortured/murdered. (so has anyone seen the country Gandhi built? It's around here somewhere...). And I thought I was getting my head round India.

I also met some of India's most prominent social activists including Aruna Roy (search wikipedia to get how cool that is), so I'm feeling like a real grown-up at the moment. (It hasn't lasted - we watched the Mask on DVD tonight.) And then the train took 36 hrs to get back due to an accident, luckily I had some amazing scenery to keep me entertained. I also had the sight of a group of eunuchs pestering a man for money to stop me from ever sleeping properly again.

And uh, blimey almost bedtime, 3 weeks ago I went to Varanasi, holiest site in Hinduism , apologies to those who know all of this... saw a body get cremated, put my hand in the Ganges, got carried away buying made to measure silk shirts which are the coolest things I've ever bought...

Erm, work wise, I wrote up my first rape case today which is one of the most harrowing things I've ever done and would rather never do again, though I may be in the wrong job for that. I'm still trying to get my project started, even though (gulp) it needs to be finished in about 2 weeks and I have a feeling Madhu is not terribly interested. I'll make her interested!

And I've got new shoes after my camel leather slip-ons disintegrated. They did this within 5 days of me losing my beloved hat and the wire to charge my MP3, so I've labelled that week 'the loser.'

And the rain is about to land. We've had some amazing thunder today after a couple of the hottest days I've ever seen. At the beginning of May it was 42 degrees by half 11 in the morning, and this morning I almost passed out walking for ten minutes at half past 9.

And now I've got to go! Its well past my bedtime and I was supposed to be meeting our AIESEC man to pay the rent tonight. In case this is it for another month, hope everyone is well around the globe and stay in touch through Facebook, MySpace, Skype, texts, MSN and the rest.

Toodle pip.