Deep Purple.....dreams?

The trip to Homebase was straightforward and there was nothing to suggest what lay ahead except the plan to paint Andy's old room in a deeper mauve colour with two contrasting walls.

We found a deep plum colour which was decided would be the contrast colour behind the bed,fairly easy decision especially as they were promoting a buy one get one half price. Next the contrast colour...we wanted something that would blend, perhaps a lighter shade..again, a fairly easy decision, so far so good!  The final colour was the gloss shade, I wanted a fairly neutral colour, slightly cream maybe. We opted for pecan as it had a warmer hue. Home we went, my afternoon and evening mapped out!

Every project has to have its before and after photos....

My Craft corner, not looking forward to moving all that stuff...

And so to paint! D went to clean the chickens out and I started on the contrast wall.....very purple...very contrast....totally a feature all of its own.  Having sugar soaped the blue tack marks and still failed to get them covered over with paint on the first coat, I reassured myself the next (very purple) coat should do it. The phone rings D is needed up the road to help some friends out, I am under the impression it is for  5 minutes or so...he disappears, only to reappear a minute later, a spade is needed, he leaves again... I decide to paint the skirtings whilst waiting for the purple to dry. Now this time I have done everything the wrong way round, playing by my "I just want to get this done as quickly as I can in no particular order", before anyone criticises!

The gloss paint is French mustard colour, I stare at it,  nothing neutral about this shade....breast fed baby poo colour....I paint, unconvinced....The mustard against the purple is not pleasant...I paint two skirting boards, then having talked myself into the "you haven't wasted this, it can be used in Nick's room, I reseal the lid and wonder how I am going to inform the man that more paint needs to be purchased.....of the neutral shade variety...

So by now I am in for a penny in for a pound, I look at the remaining paint pot. It has to be done, I open it  and slop the paint on liberally, beginning to be past caring.  The colour is dark...a very pretty mauve, a beautiful mauve.....a competing for contrast with the purple wall mauve.  Suddening I am overwhelmed by the oppressive walls closing in on me.  I practice walking into the room, as if I have never seen it....

Oh my....I am in a purple box...a deep purple box and I can't pretend this is us being "adventurous with colour" Even with our  radical orange landing, this really is too much, nothing I try to tell myself convinces me I have made the right choice.

I rest my case....

So what's a girl to do? D has still not returned, hours have passed, why does he need a spade, what is he digging? What do I tell him now?  Not only do I hate the mustard , but now I have two walls which look as if I have had an unfortunate accident with a winepress.....The front door opens, the man appears, he has been shovelling cement...... He starts to come upstairs....I feel the need to warn him before he enters the room...I call out phrases in the hope that it will prepare him for the sight: "It's too dark" "The colours are battling for supremacy", "I don't like it"

He stands and surveys the scene. "I agree" says he, "What about if we paint over the deep purple with the lighter colour and buy a more subtle  shade for the other three walls?"  He quite liked the pecan (me....mustard) but seemed okay with my suggestion of a more ivory shade....He was hungry...I suggested we get our own meals tonight...I couldn't just stop, things needed to be rectified! He disappears to prepare his meal... (dreadful wife....leaving the husband to fend for himself and after all that shovelling)

So lighter shade is applied over deep purple shade and then the song started in my head....a tinny sort of tune from my teenage and it wouldn't go away....

Now I have two wall painted the same colour but feel I am heading in the right direction.  Another coat on the deep purple should do it, just need to pop out to Homebase tomorrow...and still the song plays in my head....

On my word, look at the teeth!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-w1bztcm70

 I am officially the messiest painter!  Should have taken a picture of my hands and arms (oh yes!)

So here endeth Part 1. I have no intention of having any "Deep purple dreams" tonight, but now I'm on a mission!

Does anyone want any deep purple satin emulsion?!!!!

I am home!

I am home, begs the question how do you define home?  Is it "where the heart is"?  Is it a place? Can it also be a space..."feeling at home"? So, being "at home" can also mean being content within yourself? Being content is an area I am turning over in my thoughts lately.  If I analyse it like that, I suppose I could say that "being content in all circumstances" means that I know that I am "at home" inside myself even if the outer circumstances chop and change around me.

 So my thoughts lead on to think about being content. How does the dictionary define it?

Content: satisfied
Content with: Not wishing to have more or other than

(Interestingly the following two words in the list are contention: strife, dispute, rivalry. Contentious: quarrelsome)

So questions need to be asked and disciplined to become part of natural thought processes:

• Which areas of daily living and contentment walk together well? Can these be taken to a deeper level ie incorporating simplicity and minimalism (subjects that may be saved for another occasion!) Oh the thoughts that whirl around!

• Imagine having a conversation witha contented/satisfied person. What do we talk about? How do I feel? Are the outcomes familiar or am I left feeling challenged?

• When does contentment become selfish and/or lazy?  What can be the signs?

• How does injustice fit into "being content"?

Interesting exercise....

So returning to the Dawn Chorus which provoked these thoughts this morning, the early morning mist prevents me from seeing beyond my garden, but I wonder, what will today bring?

It is easy just to take the photo or the film, become a spectator of the unfolding day.....I want to get out there and partake of the adventure, take time to listen, to watch and immerse myself in the moments.  Anyone care to join me?  Breathe deeply, the day stretches out before us!

Day 8 Asha Kusumpar Pahadi and the "Loanies"

Day 8 Asha- Kusumpur Pahadi

Today we had the opportunity to meet up with a few members of the community who had taken out bank loans between 2008-2010. Seventeen people in Kusumpur Pahadi have taken advantage of this. It was a privilege to meet them, discuss what they had taken their loans out for and then to walk over to their shops/businesses and see the evidence for ourselves!

Pushba and Dhanbati proudly showed us around the community.

Kamlesh

A year ago Kamlesh took out a loan for 15,000 rupees with which she bought 2 manual sewing machines.  Her customers bring their materials to her and she sews the garments, charging them 150 rupees.  She earns about  400 rupees every day.  With the profits she  has been able to buy a third machine with an interlocker and also now employs a younger girl who she is training.  she says she earns about 12,000 rupees a month and pays her employee 1200.  Her husband is a gardener earning 5,000 monthly, so she earns more than he does.  She has 3 children, two girls and a boy and says that the money she earns, after her loan installments , is going towards getting a better education for her children.The lady on the right now runs a small sewing business having taken out a loan for 2 sewing machines.

Kamlesh is on the right of the photo

Nigel and D listen to the loan stories.

Kanchana

Two years ago Kanchana (who has lived in Kusumpaur Pahadi for 30 years) took out a loan of 30,000 rupees in two installments, first 20,000, then 10,000 to start her Beauty Parlour business. She had completed six months training which was being offered by the Rotary club for 15 rupees a month (about 25p). So with a 90 rupee investment she was on her way! She gives her teacher free treatments!

Now she gets at least 15 customers every day and makes about 500-600 rupees profit daily, unless it is wedding season (Feb)when she can earn up to 2,000 rupees profit!

The picture below shows Kanchana's daughter, who works with her.  The photo on the left shows her wedding make up!

S Kavitba

Three years ago S. Kavita took out a loan for 50,000 rupees over 5 years,to open a general store.  With the profits from this shop, and after the loan repayment, she and her husband have been able to put a down a deposit of 150,000 to buy their own rickshaw which will cost 450,000 in total.  Each day, he pays the dealer 400 rupees (he earns about 800 rupees daily).  So now they have two businesses and hope to buy a goods carrier in the future.

This is the General Store.

This young girl is sewing her brother's school uniform.

Me buying some stationery from one the "loanies" who is doing very well at exam and admission time!

The lack of water still continues 3 years later, where the community have to rely on tankers to deliver their drinking water supply.

Day 7 Asha Kusumpur Pahadi

Day 7  Asha Kisumpur Pahadi

This was the slum community we worked in with our first team from  Yeovil, back in 2008.  We were introduced to the Bal Mandal (Children's group) Some of the children could remember different members of the team that had been out 3 years ago, that was pretty impressive!

We remembered this young girl who had danced at the Inauguration, back in 2008, she beamed when we told her!

The Mahila Mandal (Ladie's group) came to meet us too, It was good to meet Sosheela again, the lady who makes the best chai!  Sosheela is in the pink sari

It had been suggested that we hold a workshop with the college Students to encourage them in their studies, so we had a question and answer session about studying and preparing for exams.  Each student introduced themselves and explained what courses they were on, at least two were about to take final exams! Asha will have its first graduates in a few months!  They discussed what sort of jobs they were looking for: police, civil servants, teaching, accountancy were among the choices.  These students have already come so far, when you consider that for some of them the lectures are also in English....

The boy front right is Sosheela's son.

Then we had some fun with them, they wanted to know about our jobs and families.  Was Nigel and Sue's marriage a love marriage or an arranged marriage!  That got us on the subject of arranged marriages which caused much animated conversation!  They all seemed happy with the idea. although one lad didn't want his wife to have a job.  They told us that they would have 1/2 an hour with a girl to decide whether they agreed with their parent's choice!  We asked the girls what would be the most important question they would ask the boy?  "Does he have a girlfriend?" came the quick reply.  I don't remember the answer from the boys! 

It was good to see their personalities coming through, you sometimes miss that when you come with a larger group.

Day 7 Meeting up with Reena!

Introducing my "Indian Grandchildren" Ashish and Sakshi!  Ashish is nearly 4 and Saksi will be 3 in August.  I met Reena in April 2005 when I first came out to Asha, she was about 16 then. We meet whenever I come out to India, despite the language barrier, we manage pretty well, I'd say! It's been good to see her growing up into a woman.


Ashish (his name means blessing) and Sakshi (her name means witness)

Reena changes Sakshi into the dress we bought her!  The bright pink colour went down very well!

She loved it!  Ashish's tiger T shirt will be modelled on a different occasion, but he smiled when we showed it to him!

Reena,

Me and Reena

Sakshi in the front, Ashish behind her.

Reena, Me and Mukesh's sister (Mukesh is Reena's husband)

Reena with me holding Sakshi.

Reena with D

Me with the children.

The family photo which will be framed on our dresser!

Sakshi being cute!

Day 7- The womb, the unsafest place for a baby girl?

Arrived back in Delhi at 05:30 and made for the cafe outside the station where we could have a coffee and wake up properly and in my case, watch the families and travellers come and go, admire the saris etc!  A couple of men were seated on a table next to ours, one of them asked if we we were part of "something" ministries.  We wondered if they had been on a conference in Delhi as they were both Pasters, it transpired. The older chap was Paster and was part of "Everett Mission Charitable Trust"  which is based Jharkhand near Calcutta, he gave me his card with all the details  which included a family photo, his wife and three children. It turned out that in fact he had nine children, two of them were their birth children and seven they had adopted  who had been abandoned. He pointed out one of the children, a little girl, sitting between his other son and daughter.  They had found her on a rubbish heap, in a terrible state.  He said that he too had been brought up in an orphanage and didn't know who his parents were, now it seems his heart is reaching out to these unwanted ones.  I wished I had asked if the other six they had adopted were also girls.

It is a timely story as there has been so much written in the Indian Press about female foeticide and infantacide following india's recent Census. A few days ago I wrote the following paragraph, it seems appropriate to include it here:

The womb, the unsafest place for a baby girl

I saw this headline in one of the National newspapers this week, it caught my eye and I read more of the article.  Like us, India held a  National Census last week.  The results are not good news for girls.  In Mumbai, for example there are only 838 girls in the 0-6 age group for every 1,000 boys.  The provisonal results for the Census across India are "sounding an alarm over the falling child sex ratio (CSR)  Despite several awareness campaigns worth millions run by the state to check dwindling numbers, the results are worse than 10 years ago.  Who is committing female foeticide and infantacide?  Apparently it is not the poorest and least literate communities, to the contrary the reverse is true.



However, every day there are horrific stories reported about discovered girl foetuses and  various descriptions of how newborn girls are killed....not easy reading, but there it all is in graphic detail in the daily newpapers,  I'll spare you the knowledge, it will break your heart....

Healthy baby girls are quickly  taken home from hospital before they are registered, later pronounced dead.

Injustice, in your face......

Day 6- Just chillin'

Today is a much needed Chillin' out day! As I type  by the side of the swimming pool, Nigel is reading his Kerala Guide, probably hoping for more nerd points as he impresses us with his "knowledge" of the entire area in preparation for Saturday.  Sue is deeply engrossed in The Far Pavillions, a book I have read twice now, perfect Indian historical, romantic fiction..sigh...Ashton......D is into "The girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and me, I've been cutting and sticking into a scrapbook and have made a mess all over my hands with pastel chalks!

Behind me, some members of staff are having a break, playing...I wonder if you can guess....the sound of runs being scored with enthusiastic cheers!

I can hear the Brain Fever bird going up the octaves and she gets more fervent, a chipmunk is running past my feet, a red wattled lapwing (ooh err listen to me!!!) has come to drink out of the pool. D and Sue are keen to inform us of all bird varieties that cross or paths or fly overhead. We are on a steep exotic bird learning curve!  I stand amazed as Sue makes small notes against each bird she sees and dates them on the page.....

A monkey has come to join us, Sue says "Quick, grab your stuff!" however he is more intent on having a drink too, as you can see!

Tonight we are catching the Night Train back to Delhi and then it will be full on at Asha for two days. We arrive at 05:30 and are hoping the train is delayed again as the American Diner doesn't open until 7am, then we'll leg it over to "On the House" and dump our cases, get changed and then out ready to be interviewed and do workshops.  Let's hope we get some sleep tonight!


21:45

On the train now, not nearly as stressful as before, names on the board with compartment letter and even markings on Platform to tell you where the A1 carriage will stop.  D and Nigel had to  dodge running cow on platform, whilst Sue and I were in the corner of the waiting room with men gradually invading our personal body space. Thankfully cases provided  a sort of moat! By now Sue and I didn't know where to look, having discovered that eyes right meant Men's toilets and eyes left meant young men staring....

Station announcement "Stand clear of the cow!"

Just because they were teasing me about charging up my netbook on the train!

Now the train is making good speed and there is even a plug to charge up your mobile/lap top so I'm well happy as it means I can get this blog up  sooner rather than later.

Day 5-Afternoon- The Bear Necessities!

This afternoon we had our 5th and final safari.  D. has bought an Indian Bird book which has been invaluable in identifying all the varieties we are seeing fly overhead or perch.  Nigel is getting some great close ups with his zoom lens.  Sue hasn't been on tripod duty today!

White throated storks....

Parakeet nesting in a tree...

We've seen vultures and woodpeckers, tree pies, kingfishers, honey buzzards and a whole assortment of others!

Breastfeeding monkey!

More monkeys which are everywhere!

Ancient Ranthampore Fort above....

and then this...The Sloth bear!  Very rare to see, the driver of our vehicle had never seen one! What a day we are having! He was up a tree when we first spotted him....

He had knocked down a bees nest and we watched him climb down the trunk and proceed to scoop out the honey with his claw and lick, whilst all the bees encircled him!

It was a classic Winnie the Pooh moment!

"That buzzing-noise means something. If there's a buzzing noise, somebody's making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you're a bee. ....
And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey.....
And the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it." So he began to climb the tree.”

After this episode of watching "Baloo", we heard that some people had seen a leopard "Bagheera", but that was not to be us today!  We were all quite stunned to have seen 2 tigers and one rare Sloth bear in one day!