Lindi Bilgorri finds out how a couple from Great Missenden, with Asian links, have made a success of travel writing

THINGS aren't always what they seem in India.

Robert Bradnock, travel writer, explains: "When you go down a road in India you may notice that there are white marks around the trees. None of the local people will tell you what the marks are for."

It isn't, as you might expect, that the white marks have designated the tree to be cut down or that they indicate a meeting point. No.

"The produce from that tree is auctioned so that the local community can gain income from it," he says.

Robert is co-author, with his wife Roma, of a series of travel guides - the Indian Handbook, Sri Lanka Handbook and Goa Handbook.

The couple, from Great Missenden, have a wealth of experience and knowledge about the South Asian countries.

Robert and Roma first began writing travel guides in 1988.

"The publishers gave us two or three years' notice to write the books but I have been travelling in the area for 25 years," says Robert.

Robert has both an academic interest in the area and an emotional tie. He is Head of the Department of Geography and the Director of the Geopolitics Research Centre at London University (SOAS). His work takes him to India several times a year.

But perhaps the biggest pull the country has for Robert is that he was born there, to British parents, in the small northern village of Palwal.

He left India for England with the rest of his family when he was a baby. He returned as a research student in 1965 and stayed for a year. He has been going back regularly ever since.

Roma is from India too. She was born in Calcutta and lived there until her twenties, when she came to England.

The couple's latest travel guide is the Sri Lanka Handbook. The Goa Handbook is already in the bookshops and the India Handbook is out in August.

"One of the main features about the handbooks is that they are updated every year," says Robert.

Most travel books, he explains, are only updated every three years.

Robert and Roma keep up to date with what is going on in the country via a team of local experts who are knowledgable about particular areas. Also, many of Robert's students from the university travel to South Asia as part of their course, bringing new information back with them.

Robert and Roma are very careful to provide accurate information for their readers.

"Not just train times (although we give more information on that than any other handbook) or information on accommodation for back-packing (because we are very keen that young people should find it accessible), we also want them to find it valuable as a learning tool so that it tells them things about the places they are going to rather than just moving around."

Robert and Roma have packed their books with cultural interest as well as solid travel facts.

"One of the most important things in Sri Lanka is getting a balance and understanding the political situation. Sri Lanka has been in a civil war for 15 years and you need to understand the social effects of the war," says Robert.

"Travelling around Sri Lanka you wouldn't necessarily notice, on the surface, the tension and anxiety that many people have experienced. You wouldn't realise that even five or six years ago there were appalling massacres and people are living with memories of bodies being left on the road side.

"If you ask a taxi driver in Sri Lanka to take you to the eastern side of the island, which, if you look at a map, is in easy reach, he won't go and he is very reluctant to tell you why."

Roma and Robert experienced this when they went out to Sri Lanka on one of their trips.

Roma explains: "We went to the far north east two years ago and we had a very nice driver who took us but he didn't want to go because he lost his brother in the fighting there."

The trouble with many travel books explains Robert is that they are written by travellers.

"We try to get a sense of an insiders view rather than an outsiders view. We try to explain and make clear things that are not immediately be obvious."

The information in the book is first hand.

"Roma and I have been everywhere in the Sri Lanka Handbook. I have not been everywhere in the India Handbook because India is the size of Europe. But I have been to all the major regions."

Where Robert and Roma have not been, other people have visited the area for them.

When the couple go out to write the handbooks, it is not a holiday for them at all, but a lot of hard work.

Roma laughs: "It is horrendous. There is no stopping for a minute, we are taking notes all the time."

Robert stresses that the handbooks are not just for the back-packing student, they are useful for the package holiday-maker too.

"When people go to Goa and Sri Lanka on packages many of those holidays also include five or seven days when you can go off on your own. What we try to do with Sri Lanka and Goa is give ideas on what people can do away from the beach , so if you have got time-off the handbook can tell you where to go. It is geared for people who have only got a short time."

Robert's trips to India and Sri Lanka aren't just for the handbooks, many are for his academic work. He has written political and geographical books including India's Foreign Policy since 1971, Political Geography; A Study Guide, Urbanisation in Indian and Agricultural Change in South Asia.

As his depth of knowledge is so profound he is often called in by broadcasters including Radio 4's Today programme and American and European radio and television networks, to comment on South Asian current affairs.

"When I spent a year out there as a student I knew then I wanted to carry on working on India. It is a fascinating place."

And, now, with his knowledge he is helping other people to enjoy and experience India.

Sri Lanka Handbook and the Goa Handbook, published by Footprint Handbooks, are available from all good bookshops. The Indian Handbook is out in August IF you are planning a visit to Sri Lanka or Goa, now is your chance to win the Sri Lanka Handbook or the Goa Handbook by Robert and Roma Bradnock.

Freetime, along with the publishers Footprint Handbooks, are offering five of the books as prizes. Winners can choose which handbook they would prefer.

All you have to do to enter the competition is read our article and then answer the following question:

Why are there white marks around the trees in India?

Write your answer, your name, address, daytime telephone number and which book you would prefer on a piece of paper and send it to Sri Lanka Handbook Competition, c/o Kelly Clayton, Bucks Free Press, Gomm Road, High Wycombe, HP13 7DW, by Friday, July 17. The winners will be announced in Freetime on Friday, July 24.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.