In March 2000, she was assigned overseas as Reuters bureau chief in New Delhi. She served in this position until 2003, when she took a leave of absence to research the Siachen conflict. In her own words, she described her stint in India as: When I left for India in 2000 I had little inkling that South Asia would become the region to which I would want to devote the rest of my career. Somehow having a car crash on the way into Delhi from the airport – and then piling out onto the side of the road with my nine-year-old daughter and French au pair while watching the cows go by – failed to put me off. We had a small earthquake the next day and a near-war a year later, so some might call me contrarian. I would prefer to say that in the years covering both India and Pakistan I have rarely met more generous people – in both countries.