India, June 1 -- Dear Reader,

These days I am either waiting for electricians or stonemasons or plumbers. Building a house in the mountains sounds romantic I know -but wait until you spend long moments arguing with a wood polish man who insists ebony is chestnut brown.

When the cement work goes awry, I take a deep breath, and think of Peter Mayle doing repairs on a farmhouse in the French countryside in A Year in Provence. Mayle's genius is turning disaster into comedy, his self-deprecating charm making even the most infuriating mishaps feel like part of the adventure. That's the spirit, I tell myself. Someday, this will be a funny story too. Smile - and take all the squelch and snafus in your stride.

Never mind that the wooden beams h...