I've never been as homesick in such a short absence. The CBD (to steal a line from Cohen) was as cold as a new razor blade.
An Indian taxi driver, a consummate conversationalist and in taxi terms a perfect stranger, gave another perspective when I asked: "Why did you leave India?"
"Because there was too many people. Because it's corrupt. Because nothing moves without money pushed under a table - even the kids' education. Because I used to bathe three times a day due to the heat and stink. Because people don't acknowledge each other".
Seemingly the price to pay for such a mass of humanity is the lack of it. "That's why I live here [Auckland], it's beautiful."
Paradise is relative. The definition of "gentrified" or "civilised", depends on whether you're standing in Mumbai, Auckland or Hawke's Bay.
On the Dash 8's final descent into a postcard-sunny Napier yesterday a chap sitting next to me from Sydney, a first-time visitor to the Bay, looked out the window and frowned: "Looks like we're landing in a bunch of paddocks".