New Delhi, July 18 -- "I came to India to retire in 1999. It hasn't worked. Not at all. It's a stupid idea I had."

Isla Van Damme has had quite a life. Sorry, that is the wrong tense. Isla Van Damme is having quite a life. She was once a VIP hostess at the airport in London ("very boring"), then ran Santosh, a boutique store, selling Indian art, artefacts and fashion for decades in Belgium ("most difficult country to sell to women, they are very classical"), created a cafe on an almost deserted beach in Goa ("people loved it, but never again, I worked 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week"), built herself a beautiful beach house ("but it wasn't actually legal so I demolished my own house") and then found a new career designing houses and ...