My Holiday: Nisha Madhan
What was your greatest holiday? I have a feeling it might have been a campervan trip throughout Europe with my family. But I was 3, so don’t remember anything! It floors me that they were able to organise such a crazy, big-scale trip with two toddlers in tow.
And the worst? In a car with my family racing from Shimla, way up in the Himalayas to Dehradun train station. If you’ve been to India you’ll know the only real traffic rule is to honk so that people know you’re coming. On those steep hills with narrow roads, littered with blind corners, this rule is a thing that will instil fear into the hearts of gods. Added to this we were driving through a thunderstorm cloud. It was pitch black in the middle of the day, pouring with rain and heavy hail pelting the windscreen. An inch to left spelled absolute death. I felt my legs go numb, one hand clutching the arm rest, the other with my phone out ready to call my then-partner. After a while we passed through back into daylight again and barely made our train. If we bump into you on holiday, what are you most likely to be doing? Drinking wine. Eating whatever local cheese is cheap. Reading a book. How about for a dream holiday internationally? I’m dying to visit Tokyo so I can eat all of the food and drink all of the sake. What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done when travelling? Missed a plane because I was too busy playing Candy Crush. Look — I’m not proud, okay. Aisle seat or window seat? Aisle seat. I’m one of those people who always needs to go to the bathroom and climbs over you when you’re sleeping. What’s the best travel tip you’ve ever been given? I know it’s controversial but a glass of red, a pill and a soppy movie that will make me cry and I’m out until the plane lands, fresh as a goddamn daisy. What was the most memorable meal you’ve had while travelling? I love cooking. So I love to source local ingredients and cook what seems fit. Recently my collaborator Julia Croft and I went to Montenegro to relax for a few weeks and made full use of the delicious ingredients on offer. Bread with tomatoes, olive oil and
Nisha Madhan cocreated and directs Working On My Night Moves at Basement Theatre, Wednesday to Saturday, from March 6-23, tickets from iTicket.
basil, shakshouka with mounds of feta and gallons of crisp Montenegrin beers. Heaven! What’s the best thing you’ve brought back from
a trip? Two years ago, I returned home to New Delhi to hang out with my grandmother who wasn’t feeling so great. I surreptitiously filmed her while she spoke to me about one of the most memorable moments is her life: setting up sustainable medical clinics and practices in rural India during the 70s and 80s. She had no idea so she just gazed out the window, rattling off these incredible stories, surrounded by her beloved rescue dogs. A month later she passed away. I’ve never brought anything so precious back with me from another country than my last memories of her. Favourite airport to land at? Berlin. Tegel or Schonefeld, I don’t care. What’s the next trip you’ve got planned? In July, I head to Hong Kong for an arts residency with some people who are very close to my art-making heart.