Why does it always rain on me? (She sings!)

Dick has already written about the Thanksgiving service, so I will relate the taxi saga which got us there. Just outside the hotel is a taxi booth and before each journey negotiations take place (dh) for two cars. Glad to get out of the rain, off we went in convoy, dressed smartly, dh even wearing a tie (unheard of). 

Dick was advised to use his seatbelt, which would be handy if there had been a slot to insert it in. I think the driver wanted him to look as if he was wearing it, in case we were stopped by a policeman. Meanwhile the single windscreen wiper (driver's side, thankfully) was fighting a losing battle with the rain... 

It wasn't long before I became aware of a "little light showering " from within the vehicle....Everyone else was oblivious, windows were up, I scanned the area, wiped my face (slightly gritty sensation)...tried to ignore it....more drips...suspicious dart of eyes around the area...then I noticed my arm.....I have freckles?!!! This is new, moreover I have wipeable freckles and a forearm that glistens. "A little drop of rain will hardly hurt me now" comes to mind and I know I will be humming Les Mis for the next hour. Now my companions in the back seat are aware of my situation, apparently the freckles are also on my face (not a good look) and there is a damp clingy sensation on my leg where the material has sealed itself on my ankle.

It is at this point that Dick, in the passenger seat, looks down at his smart shirt.....smattered with tiny polka dots, brown or shall I say taupe, not sure how the fashion industry would describe the look.... Not sure who is the most dismayed, he or the taxi driver who calls out an expletive (in English) and thrusts a rag in the general direction of the, now obvious, source of the flow. The dashboard is parted and jets of "water" are spraying without restraint at Dick and beyond him to me. Dick spends the rest of the journey pressing the rag (not sure of its previous use....) into the aperture, not terribly successfully, due to bumps and braking suddenly.

We arrive at our destination, thankfully not too grubby. The travellers in the second car, emerge dry, smart and amused when we recount our tale!

Not really that Sim-ple

The plan seemed straightforward enough: buy a cheap phone, purchase a Prepaid Sim card to make calls/send texts to the UK for a fraction of the price. Yes made sense really  as we come backwards and forwards to India regularly.

First get two Auto Rickshaws and get chief negotiator(dh) to agree a price. First "Auto" takes Nigel, Sue and Janet then disappears into the traffic, apparently knowing where the drop off point by the phone shop is. Second "Auto" with dh and I follows some distance behind. Second "Auto"arrives at destination,  first "Auto" nowhere to be seen.  We hover by road squinting into every "Auto" that flies by....nothing, no sign. Okay, we proceed with Plan B which is to buy the phone and Sim card, text Sue on Indian phone and find out where they are. Phone is bought, a cheap Nokia one (about £15). 


We then discover that Sim needs to be bought from a shop on the next floor, so up we go (still no sigh of the others) Sim selling shop is spotted, in we go. Man at computer desk manages to hold conversation with us whilst rarely removing eyes from computer screen before him (epic fail, I think to myself, having recently done an exercise in "listening skills"....try not to make judgement....epic fail on my part...) Sim can be bought here but will take 2 days to activate....silence....I look pitiful. Man looks up, must note my expression and offers helpful advice: "if you go to the Vodaphone shop at Vasant Vihar, they can do this for you today." Decision made, hail another auto rickshaw, drive to aforementioned shopping area, find Vodaphone shop, in we go. Sim card  sealed pouches are flashed before us,  Two forms are produced, filled in, passport and visa details entered.home address, Delhi address. Passports are photocopied, the end is in sight....um no... "We need a passport sized photo to put on the form" she says. "you will need to go to a photo booth."  "Okaaay, is there one nearby?" Apparently there is possibly one at a neighbouring shopping area, we will need another auto rickshaw..


We leave the shop undecided. For a few minutes...we walk in silence, suddenly it all seems one step too many....we decide to regroup at the hotel and meet up with the others who have ended up at a Bazaar and  bought a few bits and pieces.  Everyone seems cheerful enough, so we sample some of the Indian snacks they have bought and plan our evening meal out at "Punjabi by Nature" less than a minute from the Vodaphone shop.

 
 The assistant seems genuinely disappointed at our decision not to proceed. We'll ask Freddie's advice when we see him! The best laid plans and all that!

For Evia and Evia Amen!

Last night's sunset; every evening is different and I thought overlooking Glastonbury Tor was inspiring each night!

Today we travelled to the island of Evia, It took us 20 minutes to drive tothe coast. This is the view from the mainland looking over to Evia, a 30 minute ferry ride away.

In it comes!

Arriving in Evia

A welcome coffee overlooking the sound between the mainland and the island.

 Followed by lunch, this was just the starters, a delicious Carbonara followed....

Tonight I will knit,read and relax. Tomorrow dh may go swimming...I will beachcomb!

International flavours

Last night rounded off nicely which an English Greek combo! Roast Chicken with a Greek influence!

Then this morning off to St Andrew's International Church....some songs were familiar...even if the spelling wasn't! Still, I'm sure the Savior/Saviour didn't have an issue with it! Uplifting to look around the room and see so many different nationalities represented.

Then it was off to Starbucks with a Greek/English/American contingent to drink coffee and have conversations about, amongst other things...Politics....but mainly the politics of the represented nations. The Americans are voting next week and the Greeks are striking for 48 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday....and we are supposed to be flying home during that time....We had planned to visit the Acropolis museum on Tuesday, but that will now have to wait for another time....as will the Greek wool shop I have discovered on someone else's blog.....It happens to be very near the museum, and also where some of the demonstrations take place...but since there will be no buses or trains running we won't be visiting on this occasion.

Can't believe the Christmas shops are appearing....there is no escape!

A spontaneous decision was made to have lunch in a local restaurant with resident feral cat waiting for food to drop....Could do with her at home.....but must not think of the mouse issue....

Moussaka! Dh chose  a minced meat with rice wrapped in cabbage parcel served with lemon sauce. We shared a carafe of wine.....

A side dish of chick peas with tomato....

Then home to coffee on the terrace where Lucy the cat made an appearance briefly and we ate cakes from the "Cakes and Cookie Sale" at the church this morning in aid of a Ugandan orphanage.....which was  probably a little decadent (the cakes not the orphanage)

...and I continued my french knitting  "probably a christmas decoration" project, having completed the first dishcloth yesterday.  I will make the next one a little smaller as I am using larger needles this time.

Caught up on Yeovil news via Facebook....can't believe it has snowed there today!!!!

Lady Dufferin, a remarkable woman!

Whilst in Shimla,we went to visit Viceregal Lodge which was a former residence of Lord Dufferin who was the 8th Viceroy of India from 1884-1888.  However, as I came back to research more about the house, which has been described as a cross between The Tower of London and Hogwarts, I became more interested about what his wife was involved in during that time.  I read the poem first, which describes the love and respect the women had for her, then I was drawn in to imagine what life must have been like before medical help was available for them. It is all in the poem, harrowing accounts.....

Lady Dufferin  went with her husband to India in 1884 when he was appointed as the country's viceroy, and set up the National Association for supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India a year later. She was in her mid forties.

Hariot Georgina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava to give her her full name!

This association recruited and trained women doctors, midwives and nurses to improve the situation for Indian women in illness and in child-bearing as it was not felt appropriate that they were treated by male doctors.

 This involved her in a great deal of fund-raising and is sometimes referred to as her zenana work; it was celebrated by Rudyard Kipling in his Song of the Women. She received the Crown of India in 1884 and the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert in 1889.

 The Song Of The Women

 by  Rudyard Kipling

How shall she know the worship we would do her?

The walls are high, and she is very far.

How shall the woman's message reach unto her

Above the tumult of the packed bazaar?

Free wind of March, against the lattice blowing,

Bear thou our thanks, lest she depart unknowing.

Go forth across the fields we may not roam in,

Go forth beyond the trees that rim the city,

To whatsoe'er fair place she hath her home in,

Who dowered us with wealth of love and pity.

Out of our shadow pass, and seek her singing--

"I have no gifts but Love alone for bringing."

Say that we be a feeble folk who greet her,

But old in grief, and very wise in tears;

Say that we, being desolate, entreat her

That she forget us not in after years;

For we have seen the light, and it were grievous

To dim that dawning if our lady leave us.

By life that ebbed with none to stanch the failing

By Love's sad harvest garnered in the spring,

When Love in ignorance wept unavailing

O'er young buds dead before their blossoming;

By all the grey owl watched, the pale moon viewed,

In past grim years, declare our gratitude!

By hands uplifted to the Gods that heard not,

By fits that found no favor in their sight,

By faces bent above the babe that stirred not,

By nameless horrors of the stifling night;

By ills foredone, by peace her toils discover,

Bid Earth be good beneath and Heaven above her!

If she have sent her servants in our pain

If she have fought with Death and dulled his sword;

If she have given back our sick again.

And to the breast the waking lips restored,

Is it a little thing that she has wrought?

Then Life and Death and Motherhood be nought.

Go forth, O wind, our message on thy wings,

And they shall hear thee pass and bid thee speed,

In reed-roofed hut, or white-walled home of kings,

Who have been helpen by her in their need.

All spring shall give thee fragrance, and the wheat

Shall be a tasselled floorcloth to thy feet.

 

Haste, for our hearts are with thee, take no rest!

Loud-voiced ambassador, from sea to sea

Proclaim the blessing, manifold, confessed.

Of those in darkness by her hand set free.

Then very softly to her presence move,

And whisper: "Lady, lo, they know and love!"

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.